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EDUCATION IN 
NOVA SCOTIA BEFORE 1811 



A DISSERTATION 

Submitted to the Faculty of Philosophy of the Catholic University 

of America in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements 

for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 



BY 
PATRICK WILFRID THIBEAU, M.A. 



WASHINGTON. D. C. 

1922 



EDUCATION IN 
NOVA SCOTIA BEFORE 1811 



A DISSERTATION 

Submitted to the Faculty of Philosophy of the Catholic University 

of America in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements 

for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 



BY 
PATRICK WILFRID THIBEAU, M.A. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 

1922 



.If: 
iitk it) I32i 






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CONTENTS 

Page 

Preface 5 

Introduction 7 

Explanatory 11 

Chapter I. The French Period 13 

Chapter II. Early British Period, 1713-1766 32 

Chapter III. A Period of Settlement and Educational Organization, 

1766-1780 52 

Chapter IV. A Period of Educational Expansion, 1780-1811 79 

Chapter V. Education in Cape Breton 107 

Conclusion 112 

Bibliography 118 



PREFACE 

Fundamental changes in the educational policy of Nova 
Scotia have occurred since pioneer days of settlement. A 
well-ordered body of school law now provides for the province 
a system of public schools commensurate with modern needs. 
Few characteristics of its origin remain. Professional vision 
has democratized public education and injected new purposes 
into the work of our schools. 

The passage from the old order to the new was effected 
only by a gradual process. For many years ideals in educa- 
tional theory and practice that had served to mould and 
direct educational effort in colonial days continued to exert 
a potent influence on the trend of subsequent school develop- 
ment in the province. It is by an insight into their nature 
that a clue can best be discovered both for a proper grasp of 
later educational problems and for an understanding of the 
educational situation in Nova Scotia as we have it today. 

Coming within the compass of the period reviewed by this 
study are such controverted points in historical accuracy as 
date of establishment of our earliest schools, their founders, 
administration and first teachers; and such basic considera- 
tions as character of the early Acadian education, origin and 
administration of the Nova Scotia school lands, sectarian 
motives governing our original school policy, and the growth 
of an awakening consciousness for the need of higher educa- 
tion. These topics are of profound import both from an his- 
torical and institutional viewpoint. 

After diligent examination of records, printed and in manu- 
script, the writer feels justified in claiming that he has some- 
thing original to contribute to our knowledge of the begin- 
nings in education in Nova Scotia. He is aware of the exist- 
ence of but one formal work on the subject — the recent vol- 
ume, "Public Education in Nova Scotia," by James Bingay, 
M.A., Supervisor of Schools, Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.* This 
work covers the history of educational development in the 
province generally from the beginning to the present time. 



*Kingston, 1919. 



6 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

Something additional is contributed by the present treatise 
to what Mr, Bingay has to say of our educational institutions 
in their incipiency. 

It has been brought to the author's notice that Dr. Brunt, 
of MacDonald College, Montreal, has conducted research sim- 
ilar to that pursued by Mr. Bingay. This study, however, has 
not been published. 

Apart from the work above named, the desultory allusions 
to educational matters of the province found in political his- 
tories present invariably a rather imperfect and disconnected 
view of the state of education in Nova Scotia in pioneer days. 
The writer has found that for trustworthy evidence primary 
source material needs to be consulted. 

In bringing this work to completion the writer takes the 
opportunity to thank those who by helpful suggestion, cour- 
teous service and indulgent patience encouraged him in his 
task. He expresses his gratitude to the staffs of the several 
libraries in Washington who rendered courteous assistance in 
locating material pertinent to the study. To Dr. Walcott of 
the United States Bureau of Education he feels particularly 
indebted for allowing him free access to the valuable collec- 
tions of that Bureau. To Mr. Piers, Custodian of the Public 
Kecords of Nova Scotia, and Miss Donohue, Librarian at the 
Provincial Building, Halifax, he is indebted for placing at his 
disposal precious manuscripts and rare volumes entrusted 
to their keeping. He particularly acknowledges his indebted- 
ness to the several professors of the Department of Education 
of the Catholic University of America, and recognizes in an 
especial manner the assistance rendered by Reverend Dr. P. 
J. McCormick, Professor of History of Education at the same 
institution, who directed the course of the work and on 
numerous occasions offered helpful criticism. 



INTRODUCTION 

In Nova Scotia, at the present time, there is, in connection 
with readjustments being made in our school program and 
the attendant study of expanding school functions, a height- 
ened interest shown in the scientific examination and investi- 
gation of fundamental principles upon which our school sys- 
tem is based. This interest carries investigators back to a 
time prior to the establishment of state schools and into 
topics that demand patient and attentive study. 

Due to the paucity of published treatises on the subject, 
research of this nature imposes many tedious diflSculties; it 
necessitates the consultation of an unclassified mass of orig- 
inal historical material amongst which the educational data 
are not abundant ; for during those years that the educational 
activity of the province remained, more or less, a matter of 
private enterprise there was no necessity for keeping record 
of its conduct. Schools then were instituted, supported and 
disciplined by itinerant teachers or by several industrious 
persons of an isolated community who coordinated their ef- 
forts to erect a school and hire and support a teacher, some- 
times at their own expense. The only requisite for estab- 
lishment was official permission, and frequently even this re- 
quirement was ignored. Sometimes, however, those semipri- 
vate institutions made application for governmental assist- 
ance, and in this way we are made aware of their existence. 

Likewise, of the manuscript material available for exami- 
nation, about all of it comes under the broad class of "his- 
torical archives." Of the Public Records of Nova Scotia, no 
assortment or index has been made of the educational data 
they contain. For this reason their examination entails the 
handling of a mass of documents productive eventually of a 
small amount of information in proportion to the labor spent. 

For the most part, however, this inquiry represents conclu- 
sions arrived at after a due examination of primary source 
material. Part of the documents consulted are originals, and 
part facsimile transcripts from the London and Paris ar- 
chives. The evidence of the latter group may be accepted as 
being of equal authority with the originals. Testimony of a 
second-hand character was resorted to only when it revealed 



8 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

information not available from primary sources, and effort 
was always made in such cases to corroborate its validity by 
rmparison of statement with probabilities in the case and 
an honest effort to appreciate the reliability of the author^ 

T^he writer's sources of information for the study were 
varied. Some time ago he pursued research on the early 
French and English wars in Acadia in the Dominion Archive 
at Ottawa, Canada. Among the sources that came under his 
observatio; there were political histories of Nova Scotia and 
Canada, diaries, archival reports and numerous transcripts 
^rom the Colonial Archives, London. Latterly he pursued 
the study here presented in the depositories of the Library of 
Con ress' WasMngton, D. C, and in the United States Bureau 
of Education in that city. Here he had the opportunity to 
examine again histories, educational treatises, laws, statutes 
and journals of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. The 
.nost illuminating information, however, resulted from an 
intensive study of the Public Records of Nova Scotia m the 
Public Records Office, Halifax, and rare volumes and files of 
old newspapers in the Legislative Library at the same place. 
For the period under consideration the Records number ap- 
nroximately 175 volumes averaging 500 leaves each, foolscap 
Te They comprise books of Governors of Nova Scotia, 
minutes of the Executive Council and much miscellaneous 
correspondence belonging to the period now under investiga- 

^' On account of the peculiar interrelationship that marks 
the progress of early church, political and social institutions 
in Nova Scotia, the writer frequently obtained suggestive and 
helpful information by referring to documents relating to 
eccLiastical activities in the province during that period. 
Matter of this nature consisted of communications that passed 
between ecclesiastical authorities, found in considerable num- 
ber among the Public Records of the province, church and 
church societies' reports and sketches on church work 

Accessibility to a comparatively full account of the en- 
dPavors of the Established Church of England in Nova Scotia 
leaves no doubt as to the part played by that body in shaping 
the social and educational life of the province m the era of 



Introduction ^ 

colonization. The praiseworthy and blameworthy aspects of 
the educational policy it pursued can be established on the 
evidence of written record. With the French missionaries of 
the Catholic Church the case is different, there being good 
reason to believe that there has never been any fair estimate 
or appreciation taken of the educational value of their in- 
fluence among the French settlers in Acadia. 

It seems evident that during the term of French occupation 
the labors of Catholic religious communities in the province 
transcended in importance what was achieved under govern- 
ment initiative. The French clergy instituted the social 
fabric of the Acadians ; and if we ignore this important phase 
of their work we have nothing to recount for that period but 
tales of incessant wars. Since it was usual with them not to 
esteem it part of their mission to keep detailed record of their 
labors, it is surmised, in the absence of written proof, that 
the influence they wielded educationally was negligible. 
There is some evidence, however, to warrant the belief that 
the priest did concern himself with the educational welfare of 
those entrusted to his care. As he was representative of a 
highly respected authority and the most cultured figure among 
his people, it was but natural that he should exert a domi- 
nating, cohesive and educational force in his community. 

In Chapter I, the French Period, an attempt is therefore 
made to establish an appreciation of the nature of the in- 
formal and the formal education conducted by religious or- 
ders in Nova Scotia during the French regime. Through the 
discovery in Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1904, of a 
transcribed letter of Brother Ignace of date 1656, the author 
has been able to ratify by information elicited from an au- 
thoritative source the truth of the supposed existence of an 
early Capuchin school at Port Royal and to state facts con- 
cerning it hitherto not generally known. In dealing with this 
topic, also, suggestions generously made by Reverend John 
Lenh'art, O.M.Cap., St. Augustine Church, Pittsburgh, Pa., 
proved to be of much assistance in dispersing obscurities con- 
cerning the situation of this school and the date of its foun- 
dation Likewise, after an examination of ecclesiastical com- 
munications of the period he has been able to add to our 



10 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

knowledge of the school operated in French times by the 
Notre Dame Sisters at Louisbourg. 

Chapter II, Early British Period, 1713-1766, covers the 
British Colonial period from its beginning to the enactment 
of the first school law passed by the Nova Scotia Legislature. 
By a study of the Reports of the Society for the Propagation 
of the Gospel in Foreign Parts some new items relating to 
the first schools it instituted in the province have been ob- 

^Chapter III, A Period of Settlement and Educational Or- 
ganization, reviews the general state of education in Nova 
Scotia before the year 1780. It deals with the question of the 
school lands, considers the school law of 1766 and notes the 
organization of schools in various parts of the province. 

Chapter IV, A Period of Educational Expansion, considers 
the educational situation in Nova Scotia during the closing 
years of the eighteenth century, indicating the developments 
favorable to collegiate and secondary education and the steady 
progress toward the establishment of state schools. Obser- 
vations are also made in this chapter on the state of Catholic, 
Indian and Negro education and the influence of the Loyal- 
ists on the founding of schools in the province generally. 

A separate chapter, V, takes notice of educational activities 
in Cape Breton before 1811. That island, though separated 
politically from the mainland from 1784 to 1820, was socially 
always intimately associated with it. For all practical pur- 
poses, therefore, its schools may be regarded as having devel- 
oped conjointly with those of the peninsula. 

Throughout this study the chronological order of presenta- 
tion has been adhered to in so far as facts permit. In the 
interest of clearness and easy transition, deviations from this 
strict order of procedure occur from time to time. 

In his treatment and arrangement of material the writer 
has been guided throughout by personal experience as a pupil 
in the elementary and collegiate schools of Nova Scotia. Ac- 
(luaintance also with persons prominent in the educational 
life of the province has helped him to acquire a more intimate 
knowledge of the subject discussed and has assisted him in 
many ways in the preparation of the work. 



EXPLANATORY 

Nova Scotia proper is a peninsula on the Atlantic shore of 
Canada extending northeast and southwest from the Straits 
of Canso to the Bay of Fundy and joined to the mainland of 
Canada by the Isthmus of Chignecto. The Province of Nova 
Scotia comprises this peninsula and the adjacent island of 
Cape Breton. 

Nova Scotia formed part of Acadia or Acadie — a name ap- 
plied by the French to the great stretch of land that lay be- 
tween their settlements on the lower reaches of the St. Law- 
rence River and the Caspian peninsula eastward to the At- 
lantic Ocean; and from the Gulf of St, Lawrence to approxi- 
mately the Penobscot River in the State of Maine. Its bound- 
aries were never definitely determined by either the French 
or the English. 

In 1621, Acadia was taken formal possession of by Great 
Britain, the reigning sovereign, James I, conferring it as a 
baronetcy on the Scottish knight. Sir William Alexander. 
For many years right to the territory was in dispute, but 
finally by the treaty of Utrecht, 1713, France relinquished 
her claim to Nova Scotia, reserving, of her original posses- 
sions on the Atlantic shore of New France, Cape Breton Is- 
land and Isle St. Jean (Prince Edward Island). 

The King of England administered the government of the 
newly acquired territory through a representative stationed 
at Annapolis, Nova Scotia, until 1749, when the seat of gov- 
ernment was transferred to the new settlement founded at 
Halifax in that year. In 1763, by the Treaty of Paris, France 
renounced in favor of Britain all that remained of her former 
possessions in New France; and Cape Breton Island and Isle 
!^t. Jean came under the direct supervision of the government 
at Halifax. 

The southern extremity of ancient Acadia having been ab- 
sorbed in the State of Maine, that remaining part of it west 
of Chignecto was constituted, in 1784, into a separate province 

11 



12 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

called New Brunswick. Cape Breton, erected into a separate 
province the same year, was, in 1820, reestablished as a polit- 
ical adjunct of Nova Scotia, the two henceforth forming one 
governmental unit with the seat of administration at Hali- 
fax. Isle St. Jean was granted excision from greater Nova 
Scotia in 1768 and its name changed to Prince Edward Island. 



CHAPTER I 

THE FRENCH PERIOD 

The standard-bearers of pioneer educational effort in Nova 
Scotia were missionaries of the Catholic Church. Both in 
informal and institutional methods of teaching they led the 
way. Primarily they were intent on the conversion of the 
savages and the maintenance of religious discipline and ob- 
servance among the French Acadian peasantry. But they 
were not unmindful of the admonition of the Church, that her 
jewels are not to be cast before swine. With unyielding perse- 
verance they labored unremittingly to sow and bring to fructi- 
fication the seeds of a liberal Christian discipline, and the 
success they achieved entitles them to recognition as the orig- 
inal teachers of Nova Scotia. 

The instruction given by the missionaries was first of all 
religious, and hence moral. It did not concern itself with 
the mechanics of teaching, but it demanded practice and hence 
expression. Of the Acadian it made an individual of re- 
markable moral character, and it subdued the Indian by teach- 
ing him how to curb his savage instincts. These beneficial 
results were attained by a method of general religious disci- 
pline and teaching. For this reason it is difficult to appre- 
ciate at this date the true educational character of the work 
done by the French priests in Acadia. Evidence of it, how- 
ever, is still to be seen in the rectitude of life characteristic 
of the Acadian and in the submissive docility of the Indian. 

It is usually said that the French pioneers in Acadia were 
an extremely ignorant class of people, that they had no con- 
ception of the higher branches of learning, and that their 
knowledge of even the elements of education was very defi- 
cient. It is admitted, however, that in the daily conduct of 
their lives they observed a moral code and practiced a recip- 
rocal relationship most edifying to a Christian community. 
In the light of modern educational conceptions these two 
statements do not perfectly harmonize. Such exemplary 
conduct must necessarily rest on a foundation of education 
and breeding. No doubt the Acadians, when we compare their 

13 



14 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

scholastic attainments with those obtaining in our day, were 
deficient in the mastery of the mechanics of education. But 
this does not necessarily imply that they were void of all cul- 
tural qualities. The moral courage that they manifested in 
their way of living betokened the enjoyment of an educational 
discipline and the functioning of ethical principles taught 
them as necessary corollaries to the religion they professed. 

The unqualified assertion sometimes made, that the Aca- 
dians were obstinate because they were ignorant, is erroneous. 
More proper would it be to attribute their attitude to loyalty 
to their institutions, particularly the Church. As records 
abundantly show, the object of the conquerors was, in the 
first instance, to proselytize. This motive the Acadians re- 
sented, for they loved and respected their Church and her 
missionaries. The welfare of their priests they held above all 
other considerations. In the report of the interview between 
Governor Cornwallis and the Acadian delegates in 1749 this 
solicitude is well shown. ^ Their first concern on that occa- 
sion was the fate of their priests. Experience had taught the 
Acadians that the motives which drew the missionaries to 
Acadia were inspired neither by greed of gain nor hope of 
political preferment; and they rejoiced that amid the bewil- 
dering dictates of a shifting authority they could at least re- 
pose trust in their clergy. 

Among the Indians, no less than among the French, the 
priest was held in high esteem. With the converted tribes 
his authority ranked with, if it did not exceed, that of the 
chief. The Micmacs, who eventually were all converted to 
Catholicism, regarded him as the benefactor of their tribe and 
to this day cherish in affectionate remembrance the traditions 
regarding the apostolic pioneers of the faith who were the 
means of their conversion.- The Micmac Indians are a re- 
sentful and sensitive people. The fact that they have so long 
retained such a marvelous devotion for the priest is significant 
of the tender care they formerly received at his hands. 

To effect such a remarkable transformation in a savage peo- 
ple the missionaries must have taught religious doctrine pru- 

1 Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 209, p. 9. 

2 See The Missio^iary, Apostolic Mission House, Washington, D. C, 
Feb., 1921, p. 41 et seq. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 15 

dently and effectively. The result achieved vindicates also 
the virtue of religion as an educating medium and compels us 
to consider this fact when we attempt to form an adequate 
conception of the educational attainments of the Acadians. In- 
formation of this nature is not to be found inscribed in offi- 
cial communiques of the time, for the subject is one that by 
nature is not reducible to written fact. Though it may be 
admitted that the Acadians were, on the whole, illiterate it 
may, on the other hand, be urged that aptitude to manipulate 
the mechanics of scholastic learning is not a necessary con- 
comitant of education. Formation of nobility of character is 
the true office of an effective education. 

Turning to written records, we find them not entirely bar- 
ren of evidence conducive to the belief that the clergy con- 
tinued to exercise pedagogical functions among the Acadian 
French when adversity had removed from them all other 
means of instruction. When years after the conquest the 
Acadians were, on several occasions, called upon to subscribe 
to various forms of oaths and papers submitted by the Eng- 
lish for endorsement, approximately 60 per cent were capable 
of signing their own names. Since those signatories had 
never gone beyond the confines of Acadia they must neces- 
sarily have acquired this accomplishment within the shadow 
of their own homes and presumably through the good offices 
of their own priests.^ It is an indication also that the Aca- 
dians were not wholly unacquainted with the rudiments of a 
school education, and it is a tradition still preserved among 
them that their original ancestors in Nova Scotia numbered 
among themselves men who were well schooled. 

The first permanent settlement of the French in Nova 
Scotia was made at Port Royal, now Annapolis, in 1605. 
From this point as a center they gradually extended them- 
selves over the fertile lands adjoining. Progress, however, 
was slow, and for a long time their advance was uncertain 
and haphazard. In fact, France, after more than a century 
of occupation, left Acadia to the English in 1713 almost as 
she had found it. What are now the centers of population in 



3 PuMic Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 6. 



16 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

the province were still resplendent in primeval loveliness. 
The cause is apparent. 

France was in continual difficulties in Europe. England 
was her greatest rival, and this gave rise to incessant petty 
warfare between their colonists in North America. Left to 
themselves the Acadians were too beset with difficulties to 
look to more than the satisfaction of their physical needs. 
Their physical surroundings in a country as yet untouched 
by the hand of man made unusual demands on them. It re- 
quired their most vigorous exertions to provide food and 
shelter for themselves and their dependents. Most distress- 
ing of all, they were subjected to the tyranny of a villainous 
band of administrators who, sheltered by the security which 
distance and isolation afforded, practiced high-handed rapac- 
ity with impunity. Moreover, the attacks of the unconverted 
savages had to be guarded against, while the depredations of 
New England privateers were no less annoying. The cumu- 
lative effect of these several circumstances was to render the 
French settlements in Acadia inconstant and shiftless and 
expansion precarious. 

The population of Acadia is computed to have been 400 in 
1671.* M. de Meulles, Intendant of New France in 1686, has 
left us a census of Acadia for that year. The figures are 
based on observations made in the course of a personal visit 
and may therefore be accepted as reliable. His estimate of 
the number of French people in Acadia is 885, distributed 
over the territory as follows: Port Royal, 592; Cape Sable, 
15; Port La Heve and Merliguaiche, 19; Bale de Mines, 57; 
Riviere St. Jean, Pesmouquody, Megays and Pentagouet, 16; 
Beaubassin, 127; Riviere Miramichy, Chedabouctou de Nepi- 
siquy and de I'lsle Percee, 59. A few more settlements were 
made before the end of that century. In 1710, Governor Vetch 
reported to the British Government the number of people in 
Port Royal, including those within cannon shot of the fort, 
to be 500.'^ 

In 1714, he estimated the whole French population of Nova 



* Brown, Georgs S., Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Rand Avery Company 
Printers, Boston, 1888, p. 122. 

B Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vols. 2, 5. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 17 

Scotia at 2,500; and the Kecollet missionary, Felix Pain, 
states that on the same date there were 583 people at Port 
Koyal and 1,103 at Minas.® These figures do not take into 
account the number of people settled on Cape Breton Island. 
In Vetch's report, referred to above, belief is expressed that 
there were then as many people in Cape Breton as on the 
whole peninsula of Nova Scotia. But the estimate of an- 
other authority, 720, is probably more correct.'^ 

T}ie Capuchin Schools at La Eeve and Port Royal. — From 
1615 to 1629 the Recollets controlled the missions in Acadia. 
They left on the latter date, when Port Royal fell into the 
hands of the English. On restoration of the country to 
France by the treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1632, Car- 
dinal Richelieu, as chief of the Compagnie des Cent Associes, 
called upon the Capuchins, another branch of the Franciscan 
Order, to reclaim the field lately relinquished by their breth- 
ren in New France. The whole of Acadia was transferred to 
their charge and six members of the order from the province 
of Paris prepared to accompany the newly appointed gover- 
nor, Isaac de Razilly, to Acadia.* To them belongs the dis- 
tinction of having established the first school known to exist 
in Nova Scotia. 

Sailing from France in midsummer, 1632, Razilly arrived 
at La Heve on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia early in Au- 
gust. No time was lost by the Capuchins. They began to 
lay the foundation of their mission immediately and before 
the end of the year were "inhabiting two houses or hospices, 
one at Port Royal and one at La H6ve (Portus Mariae)."^ 
"As soon as circumstances permitted," writes their historian, 
"the Capuchins established their first Indian School at La 
Heve and called it, according to the custom of the times, a 
Seminary. The exact date of the foundation is not known. 



6 lUd., Vol. 3. 

T Canada and Its Provinces, Shortt & Doughty, 25 Vols., Toronto, 
1913, Vol. 1, p. 209. 

" Lenhart, Reverend John, O. M. Cap., The Capuchins in Acadia and 
Northern Maine. Records of the American Historical Society at Philor 
delphia. Vol. 27, No. 3, September, 1916, p. 201. 

9 Relation of the work of the Capuchins in Acadia submitted to 
Propaganda, July 19, 1632: extant in Archivio di Prop. Fide, Atti VoK 
8, No. 6, f. 269. Quoted by Lenhart, op. cit., p. 208; by Cesinale, III, p. 
677, note 4. 



18 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

The Kev. D. McPherson makes it contemporary with the 
Jesuit Huron college at Quebec. 'About 1635/ he writes, 'the 
Capuchins opened their college at Port Royal.' Father Can- 
dide favors a somewhat later date. 'It seems to me/ he says, 
'that the construction of the Seminary at Port Royal must be 
placed after Razilly's death (1635). It was certainly started 
before 1635, and, consequently, preceded the Quebec semi- 
nary, the fruit of the same thought, of the same devotedness, 
and of the same apostolic spirit.' Very probably it was be- 
gun about 1633 in La Heve, and in 1636 transferred to Port 
Royal."^" 

Rather convincing evidence in support of the latter view is 
deducible from a knowledge of the conversion policy advo- 
cated by Cardinal Richelieu at this time as revealed in the 
instructions he and Pere Joseph, Prefect-Apostolic of all the 
French Capuchin missions, had given the Acadian mission- 
aries on the eve of their departure from France. Richelieu 
believed that progress in conversion of the Indians would be 
facilitated by beginning with the education of their children 
in boarding schools. ^^ Later on, these children having ac- 
quired a certain mastery of elementary learning and Chris- 
tian doctrine, could be returned to their parents and ad- 
vantage taken of their influence in inducing the natives gen- 
erally to embrace Christianity. Father Pacifique points out 
that "Cardinal Richelieu had given explicit orders (to the 
Capuchins in Acadia) to civilize the Indians by giving them 
a regular course of instruction," and expresses the opinion 
that "for this reason the Fathers could not delay the estab- 
lishment of a 'Seminary' both for training and civilizing In- 
dians alongside French children for such a long time."^^ 

The small amount of data extant precludes possibility of 
obtaining extensive information concerning the operation of 
the school at La H6ve during Razilly's administration. The 
initial success attending the efforts of the Capuchins during 



10 Lenhart, Rev. John, op. cit., Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 223-224. 

11 Ibid., p. 222. 

12 Private correspondence of the writer with Rev. John Lenhart, 
0. M. Cap., St. Augustine Church, Pittsburgh, Pa., of date Nov. 7, 192l! 
Information on this point also obtained through correspondence with 
Rev. Father Pacifique, O.M. Cap., Restigouche, Bonaventure Co., P, Q. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 19 

this time, however, is attested to by a memoir submitted to 
Cardinal Richelieu by Governor Razilly on July 15, 1634. In 
this document he states : 

Lesquels (the Capuchins) par leurs examples . . . nous ont 
si bien conduits que par la grace de Dieu le vice ne regne 
point en cette habitation; et depuis que j'y suis, je n'ai pas 
trouve lieu de ch^timent: la charite et I'amitie y sont sans 
contrainte.^^ 

As to the Indians, he says: 

lis se soumettoient de leiir franche volonte a toutes les lois 
qu'on vouloit leur imposer, soit divines soit humaines, recon- 
noissant Sa Majeste Tres-Chretienne pour le roi.^* 

Razilly died in 1635, leaving the administration of afifairs 
in Acadia to his associate, D'Aunay de Charnisay. From La 
Heve, D'Aunay moved his headquarters, in the same year, to 
Port Royal which thereafter became also the center of Capu- 
chin activities. As we have noted, in 1636 they transferred 
the Seminary to the same locality. Available information 
concerning its subsequent progress is more abundant than for 
the preceding period of its history. It indicates that its ac- 
tivities were those appertaining to a real school in which the 
common branches of learning were taught. Historically, 
Father Lenhart concedes to it the position of first high school 
within the confines of New France.^" It enjoys the addi- 
tional distinction of being contemporaneous with the earliest 
schools of New England. 

D'Aunay seems to have been a more capable governor than 
his predecessor. He administered affairs in Acadia with 
firmness while extending a providential and paternal hand to 
the struggling Capuchin foundations. For the support of the 
missions in New France, Cardinal Richelieu, in 1635, con- 
tributed 17,000 livres of personal funds; yet had it not been 
for the gallant efiforts of D'Aunay the Seminary at Port Royal 
would have been obliged to close for lack of means.^* At 
Port Royal, the Governor reserved for its maintenance a con- 



"Quoted by Moreau, M. [Celestin], Histoire de VAcadie Francaise, 
Paris, 1873, pp. 134-135. 
14 Ibid., p. 135. 

16 Lenhart, Rev. John, op. cit., Vol. 27, No. 3, p. 224. 
isJMd., pp. 207, 224. 



20 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

siderable extent of ground which the Fathers of the mission 
were permitted to cultivate for their own use. Dwelling on 
this point Rameau says: '' , . . aussi consacra-t-il (D'Aunay) 
une somme importante a leur accroissement, car il consider- 
ait Tetablissement des missions comme une des necessites 
premieres de toute formation sociale.'"" 

Concerning the establishment of the Seminary and the re- 
lationship that existed between it and D'Aunay, Rameau pro- 
ceeds to say : 

On avait done construit par ses ordres, h Port-Royal, une 
sorte de monastere que Ton appelait dans le pays le Seminaire, 
dans lequel il avait installe douze Recollets, et il y avait 
annexe une etendue de terre assez considerable, qui jjut sub- 
venir ulterieurement aux besoins de ces religieux; ceux-ci 
d'autre part s'etaient obliges, non-seulement a desservir la 
colonic frangaise et a faire des missions parmi les j)euplades 
indigenes, mais encore k recevoir, entreteuir et instruire dans 
leur maison trente jeunes gens et enfants micmacs on abenekis 
afiu de propager plus aisement dans la contree la connaissance 
de la religion et les premiers elements de la civilisation; c'est 
pourquoi cet etablissement est appele le Seminaire dans les 
documents du temps." 

Rameau here confuses the Recollets with the Capuchins. 
That it was the Capuchins and not the Recollets who con- 
ducted the school at Port Royal, has been demonstrated by 
Moreau and is substantiated, also, by the writings of D'Aunay. 
^'D'Aunay informs us in his Memoir that in 1643 the Capu- 
chins were instructing thirty baptized Indian children in 
their seminaries. These were Micmacs and Abenakis (Algon- 
quins). Besides these thirty inmates," he saj's, ''the Capu- 
chins were instructing a number of externs, both French and 
Indians." ^° The validity of this opinion is usually accepted 
by historians writing on Acadia. At that date, however, a 
few Recollets were to be found in the country. 

D'Aunay's memoir referred to above shows that the Capu- 
chin Seminary was meeting the terms of the contract made 



"Rameau, M. [St. Edme], Une Colonic F{'Odale en Amerique, Paris, 
1877, p. 88. 

'"Rameau, M. [St. Edme], op. cit., p. 89; Gosselin, L'Abbe A., La 
Mission Du Canada avant Mgr. De Laval, Evreux, 1909, pp. 108-109. 

18 Lenhart, Rev. John, op. cit.. Vol. 27, No. 3, p. 224. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 21 

with the Governor and Kichelieu. The original six teachers 
and missionaries had by li'Ao increased to twelve.^° The day 
scholars or externs were both French and Indian children, 
usually from the settlement and vicinity; the interns, called 
in the documents of the time, pensionnaires, were from more 
distant places. On Sunday, the teachers and pupils were ac- 
customed to congregate in the Governor's manor house, 
wlience all proceeded to church. Rameau, borrowing from 
the Relation of Ignace of Paris of date 1653, describes thus 
the procession on those occasions : 

Le seigneur arrivait de son cote, sortant du manoir avec sa 
femme ainsi ses nombreux enfants, dont I'aine, Joseph, avait 
deja 14 ans en 1650 (the year of D'Aunay's death), et les 
capucins, qui an nombre de douze tenaient le seminaire des 
sauvages, formaient cortege. Avec leurs trente pensionnaires 
et avec les enfants du pays qu'ils tenaient en ecole, ils arri- 
vaient en rang prendre place a I'eglise.'^ 

Although the school was of rude proportion and design, the 
instruction it imparted was not of an inferior sort. In 1645, 
an Indian student from the Seminary was taken to France. 
His appearance pleased royalty exceedingly, the Queen herself 
finding him sufficiently learned to confer on him a commis- 
•ion to return to Acadia and assist in the conversion of his 
people.^^ Two years later, in granting the Lettres Patentes 
to D'Aunay, King Louis makes mention of the dutiful service 
rendered by his representative in Acadia, commending him 
on the fact that he had borne the entire expense of the estab- 
lishment, supporting even the seminaries for teaching the In- 
dians.^^ 

The unusual solicitude shown by the Governor for the per- 
petuation of the seminary schools at Port Royal naturally 
provokes the question whether he had any concealed interest 
in their success. Up to 1643 he had expended upwards of 
400,000 livres in the administration of Acadia, no small part 
of which had been devoted to the schools and missions. ^^ It 



20 Moreau, M. [Celestin], op. cit., p. 249. 

21 Rameau, M. [St. Edme], op. cit., p. 100. 

" Lenhart, Rev. John, op. cit.. Vol. 27, No. 3, p. 225. 

23 Moreau, M. [Celestin], op. cit., p. 243. 

24 Ibid., p. 242. 



22 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

has been shown, however, that apart from the religious zeal 
that actuated both the teachers of the seminaries and 
D'Aunay, their interests were otherwise mutually distinct. 
Perhaps D'Aunay, who from all accounts was a man endowed 
with strong judgment and possessed of a deep sense of duty, 
esteemed the worth of the educational facilities afforded his 
children by the Capuchin institutions. To provide for their 
maintenance he regarded probably as part of his obligations. 
Our authority, Rameau, expresses this thought when he says: 
'^D'Aunay (bon juge en ces matieres) avait su apprecier leurs 
services, efficaces et modestes."^' 

D'Aunay had eight children — four boys and four girls. ^' 
The boys received their instruction in the Indian school for 
boys, while the girls enjoyed similar privileges in the Abenaki 
seminary for girls. 

When the girls' school was opened, the records of the time 
do not divulge. The Capuchin reports on the missions in 
Acadia in 1641 apprise us of the appointment in that year of 
Madame de Brice D'Auxerre, directress of the school.^^ In- 
ferentially they give evidence conducive to the belief that the 
institution had already been in existence for some time. The 
directress seems to have been a person of considerable impor- 
tance in the Port Royal mission. In the documents of the 
period she is described as a person "distinguished for her 
piety, zeal and wisdom."^* She had two sons, Leonard and 
Paschal de Brice D'Auxerre, both of whom joined the Capu- 
chin Order and subsequently engaged in mission work with 
their brethren in Acadia.-^ She was the guardian of 
D'Aunay's daughters during the troublous j^ears that marked 
the close of his administration, and after his death in 1650 
became their protectress. 

From what can be ascertained of the school, it is known 
that, like the boys' seminary, it contained both intern and 



"Rameau, M. [St. Edme], op. cit., p. 88. 

'°Moreau, M. [Celestin], op. cit., p. 247. Ignace of Paris in his Rela- 
tion of 1656 says D'Aunay had "three daughters and as many boys." 

27 Lenhart, Rev. John, o?j. cit.. Vol. 27, No. 3, p. 227. 

28 Letter of Ignace of Paris, Archives of Propaganda, Rome, dated 
1656; reprinted in Reports on the Canadian Archives, Ottawa, 1904, 
p. 337 et scq. 

29 Lenhart, Rev. John, op. cit., Vol. 28, No. 1, March, 1917, pp. 53, 57, 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 23 

extern pupils. Existing documents do not reveal their num- 
ber, but they show that the practice prevailing in the boys 
school of placing French and Indian children on the same 
benches was observed here also.^° Under Madame de Brice's 
supervision the girls' seminary endured twelve years. It dis- 
appears amid the devastation that overtook Port Royal in 
1652. 

After the death of D'Aunay in 1650 the missions suffered 
severely from dissension occasioned by the conflict of rival 
claimants for control in Acadia. In 1652, a French trader 
named Le Borgne, to whom D'Aunay had fallen under finan- 
cial obligation, seized Port Royal.^^ Sixteen members of the 
Capuchin Order — ten fathers and six lay-brothers — were at 
that time laboring in New France.^- Two of them, the Vener- 
able Father Cosma De Mentes and Father Gabriel De Join- 
ville, he expelled along with Madame de Brice, detaining them 
on his ships for five whole months.^^ 

This unfortunate occurrence, however, failed to crush the 
enterprising spirit of the missionaries. They returned soon 
afterwards and re-established the boys' school at Port Royal. 
When the settlement was seized by the English colonial forces 
in 1654, the Abenaki seminary was being conducted by Rever- 
end Father Leonard, of Chartres, assisted by Father Yvo, of 
Paris, and by two lay-brothers, also of the Capuchin Order — 
Brother John of Troyes and Brother Francis Mary of Paris.^* 
The invaders burned their church and with it likely the hum- 
ble school. ^^ In the records it is stated that after the capitu- 
lation, signed by the Superior himself in the interest of the 
mission, the English violated its provisions, putting Father 
Leonard to death and banishing his assistants. The latter 
were compelled to seek refuge in France.^® Two years after- 



30 Lenhart, Rev. John, op. cit., Vol. 27, No. 3, September, 1916, p. 227. 

31 Ignace, Brother, op. cit. Lenhart, relying on the authority of the 
original text, places the date of this event at 1653: see Records of the 
American Historical Society of Philadelphia, Vol. 27, No 3, September, 
1916, p. 228. 

32 Lenhart, Rev. John, op. cit., Vol. 28, No. 1, March, 1917, p. 48. 
"Ignace, Brother, op. cit. 

34 iMd. 

35 Canada and Its Provinces, Vol. 13, p. 41. 

36 Ignace, Brother, op. cit.; Lenhart, Rev. John, op. cit., Vol. 28, No. 
1, March, 1917, p. 57. 



24 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

wards, according to the Relation of Brother Ignace, there 
were no representatives of the Capuchins in Acadia. An ap- 
peal was made for their return, but the continued presence of 
the English on the Acadian coast and their decisive capture of 
Port Royal in 1690 put an end, eventually, to whatever evanes- 
cent hopes the Capuchins entertained of resuming their colle- 
giate work at Port Eoyal.^^ 

Throughout twenty or more years of existence, from 1633 to 
1654, the Capuchin seminaries in Acadia performed the dou- 
ble service of providing educational facilities for the French 
and native children and keeping alive the spark of learning 
in the remote colony. Considering the distracted state of the 
counti'y in which their lot was cast and the many difficulties 
they had to encounter, it is not surprising that the success 
they achieved was not commensurate with the most sanguine 
expectations of Cardinal Richelieu. He, we believe, expected 
too much in a short time. To educate the Indian was neither 
an easy nor a pleasant task; yet in the system they devised 
and the methods they adopted in their seminaries at Port 
Royal the Capuchins were the first in New France to demon- 
strate how this work could best be pursued. 

In their arduous task, the Capuchin Fathers found valuable 
assistants in the lay-brethren of the order. Some of the lat- 
ter, having acquired a remarkable fluency in the Indian dia- 
lect, were of great service in the schools. 

No complete list of the Capuchin laborers in Acadia during 
this period has come down to us. The names of twenty-three 
clergymen and nine lay-brothers survive. Some of them per- 
ished in the discharge of their duties in the colony; others 
were obliged to leave from sheer destitution and still others 
were banished from the country when it changed owners.^® 

France remained in titular possession of Acadia for half a 
century after the dismemberment of the Port Royal school, 
but there is no evidence that the missionaries attempted its 
re-establishment. Port Royal, as the metropolis of popula- 
tion, was the logical situation for a school; but its security 
was thereafter fraught with so much uncertainty that it is 



37 Ignace, Brother, op. cit. 

'"Lenhart, Rev. John, op. cit.. Vol. 28, No. 1, March, 1917, p. 47 et seq. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 25 

probable the missionaries did not deem it wise or expedient 
to repeat the venture. 

In 1713, France defiuitel}^ relinquished her claims to Acadia, 
the interest of the French priests being confined thereafter 
chiefly to the discharge of their religious functions amongst 
the French inhabitants and the Indians. Their purpose, how- 
ever, made necessary the continuation of catechumenal in- 
struction in church doctrine and observances of the Christian 
life. While this phase of their work yields the most striking 
aspect of their educational efforts in the years that followed, 
there is reason to believe, as has already been shown, that they 
were not altogether unmindful of the secular educational 
needs of their flocks. As the missionaries at this time were 
invariably capable of conversing in the Indian tongue, they 
could teach the articles of faith to the savages simply and 
effectively. 

The Ordre de Bon Temps. — Before disposing of the period 
of French ascendancy in the peninsula of Nova Scotia, men- 
tion should be made of an institution that at an early date 
performed service of a literary and educational character 
for the people at Port Royal. This was the ancient society 
of the "Ordre de Bon Temps," organized by the clever Marc 
Lescarbot. 

Lescarbot came to Acadia in the train of Poutrincourt in 
the spring of 1606. He had been a lawj^er by profession but, 
conceiving law a useless and even base calling, he neglected 
his legal duties to pursue studies in literature. At Port 
Royal he took assiduously to horticulture and, when not en- 
gaged in the field, spent his time in retired study or in devis- 
ing means of diversion for the long evenings. In his little 
room he had a few books brought from France and there, in 
his retreat, he wrote his diary and composed poems, some of 
which were afterwards printed under the title ''Muses de la 
Nouvelle France."^^ 

The Ordre included fifteen of the principal men of the 
place among whom were several possessing literary talent. 
Periodic meetings were held in the dining-hall of M. Poutrin- 
court's house, each member of the club assuming, in regular 



39 Lescarbot, Marc, The History of New France, Vol. 1, Intro., p. xiil. 



26 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

succession, the office of Grand Master of the proceedings. A 
feast or banquet marked the opening of the meeting, this be- 
ing followed by rounds of sharp discussion in which featured 
witty jokes, songs and the recital of verses, usually composed 
by Lescarbot himself.**' These meetings were always attended 
by twenty or thirty savages, men, women, girls and boys. In 
this way the natives became accustomed to the ways of the 
white man and learned something of bis language.*^ The rec- 
reation was no less of educational benefit to the French in- 
habitants themselves, helping, as it did, in that remote little 
settlement to keep the spark of learning alive. 

Lescarbot, in a more direct way also, became a sort of peda- 
gogue to his compatriots. ''I am not ashamed to confess," he 
writes, "that at the request of our chief, M. de Poutrincourt, I 
devoted some hours each Sunday to the religious instruction 
of our men, both in order to improve their minds and to otfer 
an example to the Indians of our manner of living."*^ He took 
great delight in observing the customs of the Indians, and he 
was wisely able to say to the missionaries, "It will be the part 
of prudence in the pastors to teach them carefully and not in 
fantastical ways."*^ 

This admonition lends additional weight to the view al- 
ready expressed, that the French missionaries in Acadia dis- 
charged duties that might verv properly be termed pedagog- 
ical. No doubt, they did considerable religious teaching. 
Before receiving the postulant Indians within the Church, it 
was necessary to subject them to a process of instruction, 
necessarily brief but sufficient for communion. Occasionally, 
throughout the documents, instances are given descriptive of 
the ceremonies incident to the confession of faith hj the na- 
tives. Keferring to the conversion of the Micmac chief, Mem- 
bertou, with a score of his kinsmen in 1610, Lescarbot writes : 
"After the necessary instruction had been given, on St. John 
Baptist's Day, June 24, 1610, they were baptised to the num- 
ber of 21."** Instruction of this kind was continued by the 



^0 iMd., Intro., Vol. 1; Canada and Its Provinces, Vol. 13, p. 30, 
<i Lescarbot, Marc, op. cit.. Vol. 11, p. 343. 
42 Ibid., Vol. 1, Intro., p. xiii. 
*sibid.. Vol. 2, p. 180. 
** Ibid., Vol. 3, p. 37. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 27 

French priests in Nova Scotia long after it had ceased to be a 
French province. 

The Notre Dame School at Louisbourg. — A serious effort to 
establish a school in Isle Koyale (Cape Breton) was made by 
the French after the peace of 1713. Having by that treaty 
renounced all right to the peninsula, France determined to 
make Isle Royale the metropolis of French population in 
Eastern Canada with the principal establishment at Louis- 
bourg. The town had about 500 inhabitants in 1715 out of a 
total for the entire island of 720; 963 in 1726 and 1,463 in 
1737, when the estimate for the whole of Cape Breton was in 
the vicinity of 3,800.*^ This field had already at an early date 
been explored by Catholic missionaries. 

By a charter granted to the Ecclesiastics of the Episcopal 
Seminary of Foreign Missions at Quebec by Richard Dennis 
on the 13th of August, 1685, the former were authorized to 
establish a church or chapel on Cape Breton with the privi- 
lege of enjoying certain land concessions. One stipulation 
was that the Seminary settle thereon a resident priest "for 
the purpose of preaching the Gospel and to instruct in the 
Faith and Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion all the said 
Indian aborigines and others who might join them."**' This 
humble beginning received further impulse by the application 
of the settlement policy of 1714 in which education received 
more detailed consideration than formerly. With the estab- 
lishment of the town at Louisbourg teachers now became 
necessary and, after a period of vacillation, choice for the 
work fell on the Notre Dame Sisters of Montreal. The order 
had been founded by Marguerite Bourgeois in 1659 and al- 
ready had attained distinction in scholastic work. 

Replying to a request for teachers by M. De St. Ovide, 
Governor of Cape Breton, the Bishop of Quebec suggested, in 
1726, that a branch of the Notre Dame house be established 
at Louisbourg. The proposal, though accepted by the Gover- 
nor, met with disapproval on presentation to the French 
Government.*^ By letters patent granted in 1716, a number 



45 McLennan, J. S., Louisbourg from its Foundation to its Fall, 1713- 
1758, London, McMillan and Company, 1918, p. 371. 

46 Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 2. 

47 Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1904, p. 79. 



28 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

of Sisters of Cliarity were established in the town and broth- 
ers of the same order were about the same time put in charge 
of the hospital.*^ The home government deemed the services 
of these sufficient to meet the needs of the garrison. But the 
Bishop of Quebec, in a communication addressed to the 
French Foreign Minister soon afterwards, expressed the be- 
lief that the religious orders stationed at Louisbourg were 
not competent to meet the many demands the situation im- 
posed on them.*^ Incident to the Bishop's exhortation, the 
field was opened to the Notre Dame Sisters in 1730 and an 
allowance of 1,500 livres granted them by the King of 
France.^" Two years later Sister Marguerite le Roi came to 
Louisbourg, followed next year by three more sisters with 
Sister St. Joseph as superior." 

On the 8th of August, 1733, the Sisters purchased a house 
for 15,000 livres from Sieur et Dame Beaucour in which they 
opened a school.^^ Their first pupils were orphan and desti- 
tute children. As facilities for accommodation began to im- 
prove they took in, for instruction, children of officers of the 
garrison.®^ Later on they received young women of the town 
as resident pupils.^* For this latter purpose Governor For- 
ant subsequently made them a grant of 1,600 livres per year.^® 
This same gentleman, recognizing the meritorious character 
of their work, bequeathed them, at death, the whole of his 
property.^'' His will, however, was contested by his sister 
and but a portion of it fell to the institution.^^ 

Governor Forant's endowment provided for the education 
of six young women of the town. As to the total number of 
pupils in attendance, no figures are available, but communi- 
cations that passed between the Sisters and the Vicar de Flsle 



'i« Ibid., 1887, pp. ccxviii; ccxxxviii. 

49 Ibid., 1887, p. ccxvii. 

50 iMd. 

51 Ibid., 1904, p. 184. 

52 Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 4. 

53 Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1887, p. cccxiv. 
^■iPublic Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 4. 

55 /bid. 

6B Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1899, p. 244. 

^T Ibid., 1904, pp. 292-293. 

Mention is made in the documents of the Sisters of Notre Dame being 
at Louisbourg as early as 1727. See Reports on Can. Archives, 1887, p. 
ccciii. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 29 

Dieu show that it was so great as to overtax accommodations. 
Frequent requests were made by the Sisters for alleviation of 
the situation. In 1733 the Comptroller, M. Sabatier, reported 
to the French Minister that the orphans had been placed with 
the Sisters and requested that some provision be made for 
their subsistence.^^ They requested a charter of establish- 
ment in 1736, but this was refused. Three years later, how- 
ever, it was granted along with a yearly gratuity of 1,500 
livres and a special donation of 3,000 livres more in compen- 
sation for the expense of establishment in 1733.^^ 

During the siege of 1744 the nunnery suffered severely 
from the bombardment; and after the fortress fell the Sisters 
were removed to France with the civilian population.^° Dis- 
embarking at Rochefort, they made their way to La Rochelle 
where they took refuge in I'Hospital de St. Etienne.*'^ On 
restoration of Cape Breton to France by the treaty of 1748, 
the Sisters were asked to resume their teaching at Louis- 
bourg, the Intendant stating that "it appears very desirable 
that these dear Sisters return."^^ After an absence of almost 
four years they found their home, on arrival, in a most dilapi- 
dated condition and altogether unfit for occupation.*'^ Their 
request, that the government of the colony put it in a fit state 
of repair, seems to have been ignored; for they were driven 
to the necessity, eventually, of renting new quarters at an an- 
nual cost of 500 livres. The new location was very inade- 
quate to the Sisters' purpose, and we find them, as a conse- 
quence, confining their attention thereafter to the preparation 
of young girls for first communion. The number of these was 
also restricted to thirty. The Sisters reported that frequent 
protests were made by others who sought admission but who 
were refused because there was no place to put them,^* An- 
other source of annoyance to the Sisters was occasioned by 
the recall, in 1743, of their yearly allowance of 1,500 livres. 



58 Ibid., 1887, p. cccxiv. 
i9lbid., 1904, pp. 267, 268. 

60 Chauveau, Pierre, Ulnstruction Publigue au Canada, Quebec, p. 
171. 

61 Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 4. 

62 Ibid. 

63 Ibid. 

64 Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 4. 



30 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

III a letter dated for the year 1751, they reiterated these 
statements relative to their condition and stated moreover 
their embarrassment at trying to provide suitable quarters 
for the young women of M. De Forant's foundation. 

It would appear that in time the Sisters succeeded in their 
efforts to command the interest of the authorities for when 
Louisbourg was taken in 1758 their property consisted of a 
building of fairly large dimensions situated near the center 
of the town.**^ 

The Sisters were probably among the last of the French 
inhabitants to leave Louisbourg after the capitulation of 
1758. They were still there when Pichon wrote in 1760.^^ In 
1768, however, Governor Franklin, writing to the Board of 
Trade, reported that the nunnery was in a state of ruin.®'^ 
The last we hear of it is in the records of 1772 when Richard 
Bulkeley advised George Cottnam, Chief Magistrate at Louis- 
bourg, to permit Lawrence Kavanagh to "occupy and convert 
to his own use the remaining part of the frame of a house at 
Louisbourg known by the name of nunnery."^^ 

With the demolition of the nunnery at Louisbourg the last 
material trace of educational achievement in Acadia by the 
French disappeared. Race rivalry and intolerance had ac- 
complished for the school at Louisbourg what individual 
cupidity had achieved for the Port Royal seminaries over one 
hundred years before. The life history of those schools was 
short, and the warlike circumstances under which they per- 
severed distracted their peaceful pursuits and threatened 
momentarily their very existence. But during this brief 
period of endurance they did more to educate and Christian- 
ize the Indians than the new domination accomplished in 
many years. They were educational pioneers in Acadia; the 
seminaries at Port Royal realizing a success denied their 
contemporaries at Quebec. The Capuchins in Acadia, as Len- 
hart notes, "had solved the problem in which Laval had failed ; 



65 Ibid., Vol. 43, Doc. 53, Plan of the Town of Louisbourg. 

06 Pichon, Thomas, Oenuine Letters and Memoirs ... p. 203. 

67 Public Records of Npva Scotia, Vol. 43, Doc. 53. 

OS Ibid., Vol. 136, p. 156. 

For location of the nunnery at Louisbourg, consult Gridley's Map, 
1745; a copy is contained in Reports on the Canadian Archives 1886, 
p. clii. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 31 

they bad put little French boys on the benches with the sav- 
ages . , . This was a success which neither the Jesuits nor 
the Sulpitians had accomplished.""^ 

The capitulation of Acadia to the English changed the as- 
pect of French education in the country forever after. In 
sequestered and remote parts of Nova Scotia communities of 
French families lingered long after the edict of ostracism had 
been enacted against them. Kemoved from educational in- 
fluences and deprived of the services of their priests, they re- 
mained in comparative illiteracy. They seemed, indeed, to 
have lost the educational sense and their descendants, though 
umerous in certain sections of the province, remained, for 
long, rather outside the pale of educational interest. One 
reason for this undoubtedly is that the dominating language 
of instruction in their community schools has been foreign 
to their native vernacular. 

Though, natural to such condition, their language lost its 
original purity, intrinsically through illiteracy and inciden- 
tally because of surroundings, they, nevertheless, have re- 
tained that characteristic ideal of religious devotion instilled 
in them by the early missionaries. They constitute at the 
present day a most promising element in the population of 
the province. 



69 Lenhart, Rev. John, cp. cit., Vol. 27, No. 3, September, 1916, p. 224. 



CHAPTEK II 

EARLY BRITISH PERIOD 

1713-1766 

By the treaty of peace of 1713, France, with other conces- 
sions, renounced in favor of England all political and terri- 
torial rights in the peninsula of Nova Scotia. The transfer 
involved the destiny of approximately 2,500 Acadian French, 
descendants of the earliest colonists in the provinceJ° Many 
of them occupying lucrative farm lands in the vicinity of the 
Bay of Fundy were reluctant to leave. As they seemed to be 
of good faith they were accorded the privilege of remaining in 
possession of their property provided they complied with 
certain requirements. A few of them, unable to reconcile 
themselves to the change, withdrew to neighboring French 
territory. But the majority elected to remain. They took 
diligently to the cultivation of the soil, increasing both in 
number and influence. For another half century they were 
the principal European settlers in Nova Scotia, outnumbering 
by far their English co-laborers. 

The attitude of the Imperial Government toward settlement 
in Nova Scotia during this period was marked by extreme 
dilatoriness. The number of civilian English families in the 
province in 1740 Paul Mascarene places at not uj)wards of 
half a dozen. They were outnumbered by the French in the pro- 
portion of thirty to one. Before Halifax was founded in 1749 
persons of British extraction in the province did not exceed 
400 in number. They comprised chiefly soldiers in garrison at 
Annapolis and a few more on guard at Canso.^^ 

In dealing with the French the administration pursued the 
policy of allowing them the management of their own domestic 
and social relations so long as they manifested obedience to 
English control. Within certain limits, confessedly narrow, 
they were for a time masters of their own educational 
destinies. But no encouragement either of a financial or 



'•"Report of Governor Vetch, Piiblic Records of- Nova Scotia, Vol. 5. 
'"Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 1, An Account 
of Nova Scotia in 1743 ; Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1884, p. 93. 
32 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 33 

moral nature was given them to establish schools. Later on, 
as we shall see, conditions prohibited such ventures among 
the French. 

In the case of the militia, however, a genuine need for educa- 
tional facilities was created. Though the number of soldiers 
quartered at Annapolis was rather inconsiderable, some of 
them were men of enlightenment and many had their families 
with them. These looked with dismay on the prospect of their 
children growing up unacquainted with even the elements of 
learning. They expressed their solicitude to the British Gov- 
ernment and as a result we witness in the diminutive nuclei 
of population at Annapolis and Canso the first etforts of 
English schoolmasters in Nova Scotia. 

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
Parts. — The year after the capture of Port Royal, Colonel 
Nicholson laid before the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel in Foreign Parts an address from the Council of War 
at Annapolis praying for the appointment of ministers to Nova 
Scotia. ^^ Since this Society came to exercise a controlling in- 
fluence in shaping the educational and religious policy of the 
province throughout the 18th century, it seems desirable that 
for a proper understanding of the educational situation in 
Nova Scotia during that period a brief account, at least, be 
given of the principles of its foundation and the means 
adopted for their accomplishment. 

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
Parts (for brevity, usually referred to as the S. P. G.) was 
an institution closely aflSliated with the established Church 
of England and consequently with the British Government. 
It was chartered in the year 1701 for the purpose ''of provid- 
ing a maintenance of an orthodox Clergy in the plantations, 
colonies, and factories of Great Britain beyond the seas, for 
the instruction of the King's loving subjects in the Christian 
religion."^^ This was interpreted as meaning "to settle the 
state of Eeligion as well as may be among our people there, 
which by all accounts we have very much wants their pious 



"Pascoe, C. P., Classified Digest of the Records of the Society for the 
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1701-1892, Fourth Edition, 
London, 1894, p. 107. 

"Pascoe, C. F., op. cit., p. 7. 



34 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

care : and then to proceed in the best methods they can towards 
the conversion of the natives. . . . The breeding up of persons 
to understand the great variety of Languages of those 
Countries in order to be able to converse with the natives, and 
preach the Gospel to them." 

From the foregoing as the general statement of endeavor, 
a more specific code for the guidance of teachers and ministers 
was evolved in 1706. Its more salient points were: "the in- 
struction and disposing of Children to live as Christians"; 
to teach them to read "the Holy Scriptures and other pious 
and useful Books" and to "write a legible hand" ; to inculcate 
a spirit of industry and to initiate them in the rules of church 
attendance and devotion always keeping a vigilant eye for fit 
candidates for the ministry.^* 

The controlling purpose being evangelical, all teaching was 
organized on a strictly religious basis. It aimed at a high 
standard of religious instruction. Candidates for the office of 
teacher were required to show proficiency in the teaching of 
church doctrine and a certain familiarity with church ritual. 
A rule laid down in 1712 required that all schoolmasters in 
the service of the Society should have at least deacons' orders. 
Because of the difficulty it created in securing persons pos- 
sessing the necessary qualifications, this requirement had 
eventually to be rescinded. Schoolmasters, according to the 
importance of the post, received from the Society an annual 
salary of ten to twenty pounds.^^ We find them frequently 
denominated readers or catechists, their work in this capacity 
being often indistinguishable from that appertaining to the 
religious office. In the absence of duly ordained clergy, the 
catechist assembled the people together on Sunday to read 
service to them; and "in some isolated places where daily 
schools were impossible, by some small grant from the Society, 
some respectable person would be induced to Conduct a Sun- 
day school and to read Church Service."^'' In the field, the 
educational activities of the Society actually embraced "Prl- 



"Jbid., pp. 7-8; 846. 

"Kemp, William Webb, The Support of Schools in Colonial New York 
by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts 
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, 1913 p. 56 

"Pascoe, C. P., op. cit., p. 846. ' 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 35 

mary, Secondary and Collegiate education carried on in Day 
and Boarding Schools; and in some cases combined with 
Orphanages and Industrial training."" 

The first educational work of the S. P. G. in North America 
began in 1704 when the organization opened a school for In- 
dians and Negro slaves in the City of New York. This was a 
catechising school. In Newfoundland, the Society began to 
support schools about 1726. Two years later it had a repre- 
sentative schoolmaster in Nova Scotia. 

Watts' School at Annapolis. — Unfortunately for those asso- 
ciated with Colonel Nicholson at Annapolis, the praiseworthy 
attempt made by their commander in 1711 to secure mission- 
aries for Nova Scotia was unsuccessful. Many years passed 
before their hopes were realized. 

Nova Scotia at that time seems to have been forgotten by 
oflBcial England. So far as British settlement is concerned, 
progress in the colony was static for many years. Likewise, 
the Society, afflicted apparently with the same indifferentism, 
while it exerted vigorous efforts to meet the demand for 
teachers and missionaries for the rest of the North American 
colonies, remained oblivious to similar needs existing in Nova 
Scotia. For almost twenty years after the capture of Port 
Koyal the colony endured destitute of the services of an 
ordained clergyman of the Anglican Church. 

The initiative was again taken by the garrison at Annapolis. 
In 1727 it addressed an appeal to the Society for the services 
of a chaplain. It seems that just then the directors of that 
organization were contemplating sending a missionary to 
Nova Scotia. The request hastened action and led to an 
immediate appointment in the person of the Reverend Richard 
Watts. His selection was fortunate, for Mr. Watts, in addition 
to being a minister, was also a capable teacher. His advent, 
therefore, marks the beginning of education in Nova Scotia 
under British rule. 

Mr. Watts arrived at Annapolis towards the close of the 
year 1727. As an appointee of the Society, in addition to his 
allowance as a missionary, he was eligible also for participa- 
tion in the funds devoted by that body to the extension of 

"76td., p. 769. 



36 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

educational facilities in the plantations. His commission 
provided for an initial allowance of ten pounds per year as 
schoolmaster. All through the winter following his arrival 
he labored industriously to organize the religious and educa- 
tional resources of the settlement, and so well did he progress 
that by spring he was prepared to begin classes. 

The opening class of the school was held at Easter, 1728, 
in a building constructed for that purpose under Mr. Watts' 
supervision.^* For study and textbooks all that was available 
were a number of bibles, prayer-books and tracts that the 
teacher had brought across from England. AYhat was lacking 
in equipment, however, Mr. Watts made up for by ingenuity, 
tact and industry. Many adults who had attained to maturity 
in the colony he induced to attend classes with the children. 
At one time he had an attendance of fifty. In 1731, the school- 
master's salary was doubled by the Society. More spacious 
accommodations had then become necessary, and Mr. Watts, 
after waiting for assistance until 1736, undertook to enlarge 
the school building, drawing for this purpose on his own 
resources. He was busily engaged in this project when the 
Society decided to remove him from Nova Scotia. An appoint- 
ment was tendered him in New Bristol in New England and, 
abandoning his charge at Annapolis, he moved thither in 
1738.^^ His departure left but one clergyman of the Church of 
England in Nova Scotia ; he was the Reverend James Peden, 
stationed at Canso. 

Peden's School at Canso. — Mr. Watts' sphere of jurisdiction 
covered the whole of Nova Scotia. In 1729, he reported that 
the people at Canso were "greatly bent to address the Society 
for a minister."^" As the prospect of securing an assistant 
was remote, he offered to adopt the post as one of his missions. 
In 1733, however, the Society despatched the Reverend James 
Peden to fill the position of deputy chaplain for the province 
and auxiliary to Mr. Watts. By Mr. W^atts' direction, Mr. 
Peden was designated to the office of spiritual director to the 
forces at Canso, where was established the principal outpost 



'"IMd., p. 107. 
"Ibid., pp. 107-108. 
^'Ibid., p. 108. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 37 

on the Atlantic shore and the only considerable settlement, 
after Annapolis, of British colonists in the province. 

The educational condition of the Canso settlement at this 
time was very similar to what Mr. Watts had found it in 
Annapolis several years before; children were advancing to 
maturity ignorant of their religion and void of all educational 
discipline. To alleviate the situation, Mr. Peden resolved 
to open a school. Here as pedagogue he labored for three 
years, receiving no special compensation from the Society for 
this service. In appreciation of his efforts, however, the in- 
habitants memorialized the Society in 173G praying that the 
usual advantages accorded schoolmasters be extended Mr. 
Peden. This resulted in his name being placed on the list of 
teachers and an allowance of ten pounds voted him. He con- 
tinued in uninterrupted enjoyment of this gratuity until 1743, 
when it was withdrawn for the reason that he gave ''a very in- 
sufficient account of the state of the school."^^ 

After these initial attempts to establish schools, an inter- 
lude of educational lassitude followed throughout Nova Scotia. 
Interest of the Society in the country declined. There was 
little indication that any concerted effort to settle the country 
was impending and in some quarters it was suspected that, 
eventually, it would revert to French control. The latter still 
retained Cape Breton Island and Isle St. Jean. In the penin- 
sula itself they were far superior to the English in numbers, 
and they exercised a much more powerful influence among the 
Indians than did tlieir rivals. Governor Shirley wrote to the 
Duke of Newcastle in 1747 expressing his apprehension that 
the French would soon be masters of Nova Scotia.^' Had they 
rebelled the consequence might have been serious. Such an 
occurrence, no doubt, would have imperilled the safety of 
isolated English settlers in the province. 

The obstacles to settlement created by these circumstances 
were further accentuated by current reports representing 
Nova Scotia to be '*a bleak, marshy and almost uninhabitable 
country."^^ Characterizations of this nature are of frequent 



''Ibid., p. 108. 

^■Reports on the Canadian Archives. 1883, p. 32. 

^'Martin, Montgomery, History of Nova Scotia, London, 1837, p. 23. 



38 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

occurrence among the documents — official and private — of the 
time. Naturally they discouraged immigration, no one being 
desirous of leaving home to hazard settlement in a country of 
such reputed disfavor. Thus for many years the British popu- 
lation of the province consisted of the militia and disbanded 
soldiers, the latter characterized in the records as settlers of 
the "unprofitable sort" whose interest was not in the welfare 
of the colony. 

What the administrators relied on during this period was 
apparently that the French inhabitants might in time be 
weaned from affinity for France and their colonizing ex- 
perience used to the advantiige of Britain. Since loyalty to 
France at that time was synonymous with fealty to the 
Catholic Church, it was obvious that the attainment of this 
purpose had to be achieved through the conversion of those 
people. While, therefore, the ultimate purpose of this tacit 
policy was political, the immediate was religious. 

Governor Vetch of Massachusetts, writing from Boston to 
the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations in 1711, ex- 
pressed his belief that it would be prudent to represent to Her 
Majesty that "free transportation, tools, and twelve months 
subsistence be offered to Her Protestant subjects of Britain 
and Ireland" to settle in Nova Scotia.** If with the above 
supposed planters," he suggested, "att first two able clergymen, 
who understand the French were sent over I doubt not but by 
their means, and View of Interest, many of them (the French) 
would become Protestants." His successor, Shirley, shared in 
the same view. His recommendations were, however, more 
pointed. Shirley advised in 1746 that the French priests be 
expelled from Nova Scotia and their place filled by protestant 
ministers; that protestant English schools be established and 
inducements made the French to send their children to them 
and conform to the protestant religion.*^ His manifesto, 
issued to the Acadians the following year, carefully refrained 
from introducing any statement that might be construed as 



^*Puhlic Records of Nova Scotia. Vol. 5. 

""Richard, Edouard, Acadia — Missing Links of a Lost Chapter in 
American History, New York, Home Book Company, Vol. 1, p. 219. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 39 

extending to them freedom in the exercise of their religions 
beliefs. ^'^ 

Formation of a School Policy for Nova Scotia. — As early as 
1729 the Lords of Trade had recommended to the Privy 
Council that, in placing proposed protestant Irish and Pala- 
tine families, the same system, with necessary modifications, 
should be observed in Nova Scotia as was in general use in 
New England. As regards education, this provided for the 
reservation in every township of a strip of land for the main- 
tenance of a minister, a church and a grammar school.^^ Con- 
ditions in Nova Scotia being in general similar to those exist- 
ing in New England, the policy was adopted. This accounts 
for the origin of the church and school-land reservations in 
Nova Scotia. 

The policy was to have been put in effect by Governor 
Philips. Upon his recall, his successor, Armstrong, was in- 
structed to make this the guiding principle in issuing land 
grants to settlers in the province. In 1732, he issued his 
proclamation. The nature of the provisions made therein 
for education is revealed in the instructions given by the 
Governor to Paul Mascarene, one of the Council members, 
authorizing him to proceed to Boston to solicit immigration 
from the New England plantations. These orders in part 
read: 

It being his Majesty's will and pleasure that this his Prov- 
ince of Nova Scotia should be settled and that chiefly with 
Protestant inhabitants. These are therefore (in order to 
forward the same) to empower and authorize you, Major Paul 
Mascarene, to proceed to Boston in New England and there 
(first acquainting the Governor of that his Majesty's Prov- 
ince) to treat with such of his Majesty's Subjects as may apply 
to you during your abode there, for information of the soil 
and situation of the province. . . . That a Town lot and a 
Sufficient quantity of land Shall be Sett apart within the Said 
parish or District for the Minister as also to the Schoolmaster 
and their successors in office. 

That for the Encouragement of the first Minister and 
Schoolmaster, Grants in fee Simple Shall be made to Each of 



'"Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1883, p. 33. 
"IMd., 1894, p. 71. 



40 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

them for Lots as aforesaid to the other Inhabitants, for them 
and their heirs forever.^® 

Owing to the failure of Mascarene's mission these meas- 
ures then attained no practical realization. They underwent 
further elaboration by Lieutenant Amherst in 1745. Amherst's 
proposal was ''to lay out the land in townships of four miles 
square, divided into 66 shares, two of these appropriated for 
a minister and schoolmaster and four for the Crown."^^ 

The founding of Halifax in 1749 signalized the application 
of the land policy to Nova Scotia. The immigration of that 
year brought an accretion to the English in Nova Scotia of 
upwards of 2,500 souls that increased rapidly to over 6,000 in 
1751,^'' The plan was to settle, with protestants, six townships 
of convenient size, reserving in each plots for a church and 
school and tracts suitably located for the use of a minister and 
schoolmaster. Surveys of townships were made in several 
districts of the province. B}^ mutual arrangement, the clergy- 
men and teachers were to be supplied by the Society for the 
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. 

The terms of the agreement by which the Society accepted 
responsibility for the necessary teachers and schoolmasters 
are contained in a letter addressed to that body by the Lord 
Commissioners of Trade and Plantations on April 0th, 1749. 
That document states : 

His Majesty Having given directions that a number of 
persons should be sent to the Province of Nova Scotia, in North 
America, I am directed by my Lord Commissioners for Trade 
and Plantations, to desire you will acquaint the Society for 
Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, that it is proposed 
to settle the said persons in six townships and that a par- 
ticular spot will be set apart in each of them for building a 
church, and 400 acres of land adjacent thereto granted in 
perpetuity free from the payment of any Quit Rent to a minis- 
ter and his successors, and 200 acres in like manner to a school- 
master. Their Lordships therefore recommend to tliis Society 
to name a minister and schoolmaster for each of the said town- 
ships, hoping that they will give such encouragement to them 



^^Puhlic Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 20, Doc. 87. 
"'Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 110. 
""Canada and Its Provinces, Vol. 13, p. 83. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 41 

as the Society shall think proper, until their land can be so 
far cultivated as to afford a sufficient support. 

I am further to acquaint you that each clergyman who shall 
be sent with the persons who are to form the first settlement, 
will have a grant of 200 acres of land, and each schoolmaster 
100 acres in perpetuity to them and their heirs as also 30 
acres over and above their said respective quotas, for every 
person of which their families shall consist; and that they 
will likewise be subsisted during their passage and for twelve 
months after their arrival, and furnished with arms, ammuni- 
tion and materials for husbandry, building their houses, etc., 
in like manner as the other settlers.^^ 

The opportunity was embraced by the Society. In addition 
to the land grants, privileges assuring its teachers freedom 
from competition in Nova Scotia were obtained by the Society. 
This condition was established by an order directed to Gover- 
nor Cornwallis authorizing him to prohibit teaching in the 
province by any person except under license of the Lord Bishop 
of London.^^ 

These were advantages sufficient to guarantee the Society 
supreme control in education in the province. Collectively 
they had the effect of limiting educational and religious 
privileges in Nova Scotia exclusively to that body and impart- 
ing to our original educational system a character decidedly 
denominational. Because of the provisions of this charter the 
Society was able, years later, to maintain, with a great deal 
of propriety, that, in so far as the school lands were concerned, 
these, at least, were intended for the enjoyment of its repre- 
sentatives alone. Apparently this intricate question was 
beyond the power or ability of our courts to adjudicate, and, 
as we shall see, the school lands became ultimately an anomaly 
in the educational affairs of the province. 

On ratification of the agreement with the Lords of Trade 
the Society voted an annual salary of fifteen pounds and a 
special gratuity of ten pounds, also per annum, to teachers 
who embarked with the first settlers to each township.^^ This 
basic salary, five x)ounds in excess of that given to either Watts 



"Akins, Thomas B., A Sketch of the Rise and Progress of the Church 
of England in the British North American Provinces, Halifax, 1849, 
pp. 12-13. 

'^Pudlic Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 438, Doc. 58. 

^^Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 7, p. 92. 



42 Education in Nova H-cotia Before ISll 

or Peden, was said, at the time, to be the greatest remunera- 
tion ever given by the organization to any schoolmaster ux>on 
any occasion. 

One schoolmaster of the name of Halhead (or Holhead) 
came to Halifax with the immigrants of 1749. That he was an 
appointee of the Society is not altogether clear. He fell sick 
soon after arrival, his presence in the colony remaining un- 
known. This was apparently the case for the Society's mis- 
sionary, the Reverend Mr. Tutty, who accompanied the expedi- 
tion, wrote to London in the late fall to request that the 
schoolmasters appointed for Nova Scotia be sent as soon as 
I>ossible; their presence was much needed and none had yet 
arrived.^* The following April, Mr. Halhead reported to Mr. 
Tutty but as he carried no credentials the latter had no 
authority to avail himself of his services. Mr. Halhead seems 
to have made a favorable impression on Mr. Tutty, for in 1751 
the reverend gentleman recommended him for the post of 
teacher in the building then partly ready forliolding classes.'' 
We liave no record, however, that Mr. Halhead received the 
ax)i)ointment. 

The Orphan School at Halijax. — The building above alluded 
to was the Orphan School, the first educational institution 
erected in Halifax. The frame of the structure was erected 
in the early spring of 1750. It was designed to provide accom- 
modation for or7)hans until they were fit to go as apprentices 
to fishermen.''""' It was ready for occupation in 1752, the 
Reverend John Breynton being its first supervisor. During 
the first year of its existence the institution cared for fifty 
children. Their teacher was a discharged soldier named Ralph 
Hharrock. Sharrock was the first teacher in Halifax to re- 
ceive the Y>ay of an S. P. G. schoolmaster; and, so far as 
records reveal, the first English lay-schoolmaster in all Xova 
Scotia." 

For many years the Oryihan School was the only public 
educational in.stitution in Halifax. Mr. Sharrock was suc- 



**Ihid., pp. 106; 115. 

«7btd., p. 124. 

**Publir; Recordu of Nova ficotia. Vol. 38, Doc. 11. 

•'Akins, Thomas B., op. cit., pp. 14-15; Ibid., History of Halifax, p. 70. 



Education in Nova Scotia Befork 1811 43 

ceeded by Mr. Buclianaii, who lield office until 1702.**** In 1758, 
Ann Wenman was matron of the institution."^ The educa- 
tional facilities it afforded were at this time open to poor 
children of the town as well as to orphans. The rule followed 
was to admit children at eight years of age and indenture 
them at twelve. In the nine years ending with 1761 the 
establishment cared for 275 children, most of whom were 
orphans.^"" 

Almost from it^ inception the progress of the Orphan School 
was retarded by financial difficulties. Its maintenance during 
the first year involved an expenditure of 233 pounds, 10 
shillings. A yearly appropriation of 588 pounds was voted 
for its use in 1701, but this fell short of meeting expenses in- 
curred for that year by 125 pounds. The expenditure was 
heavy and rather disproportionate to the number of children 
provided for, considering that they numbered but 32. Mr. 
Belcher attributed the unsatisfactory condition to "the too 
unlimited expense in the number admitted and in the conduct 
of this charity."^"^ He intimated that henceforth the charity 
was to be confined to its original intention. 

Between the years 1750 and 1754 several ships arrived at 
Halifax bearing immigrants from the Continent. These 
were mostly Clermans and Swiss. With the (iermans came 
their own teacher, a man named Gottfried Jorpel. As they 
were without a minister, they engaged Mr. Jorpel to lead in 
the singing and read divine service to them in the little 
Lutheran church they had erected in Dutch Town. "*^ 

In company with the Germans and Swiss came a number 
of Protestant French, chiefly from the town of Montb^'^linrd. 
Their minister and teacher, Jean Baptiste Moreau, a native 
of Dijon, in Burgundy, arrived in advance. His mission was 
two-fold — to act as preceptor to the Protestant French and 



'^Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 230. 
"Ibid., p. 215. 

'""Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 37, Doc. 11. 
""Ibid., Vol. 37, Doc. 11. 

'"^Roth, Luther D., Acadie and the Acadians, 3rd ed., Press of L. C 
Childs & Son, Utica, N. Y., 1891, pp. 108; 113. 



44 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

to convert the Catholic French already settled in the 
country.^°^ 

It was represented in the letter of the Lords of Trade to 
the S. P. G. in 1749 that all the inhabitants of Nova Scotia to 
the number of 20,000 were French Catholics whose clergy took 
orders from the French Bishop of Quebec; and it was recom- 
mended that if some of the ministers and schoolmasters sent 
out by the Society were able to speak French they might be 
"particularly useful in cultivating a sense of the true Protes- 
tant religion among the said inhabitants and educating their 
children in the principles thereof."^"* Mr. Moreau wrote the 
Society from Halifax in July, 1750: "I shall endeavor by 
assiduous toil as soon as the French Protestants, for whom we 
wait here shall arrive, to recall to the truth a great number 
of people who are suffering here under the weight of error and 
Ignorance."^"^ 

AVhen the majority of foreign immigrants moved to Mer- 
liguesh in 1753, Moreau followed them. Here the new town- 
ship of Lunenburg had been surveyed and planned. Moreau 
went to supervise general religious activities, but more 
especially to teach the Calvinists and convert the few French 
families already settled there. Mr. Sey (or Ley), as assistant 
to Moreau, watched over the spiritual needs of the Germans. 
To compensate him for his services the Council at Halifax 
voted him a gratuity of five pounds.^"'' 

Since Mr. Jorpel had remained behind in Dutch Town, no 
teacher was available for the German children. Moreau re- 
ferred the situation to the administrators and was informed 
that when Mr. How who was on his way from England ar- 
rived, he would be sent to fill the vacancy provided he 
acquiesced to the German proposals and was willing to teach 
without public salary.^°^ The Council apparently modified 
its intention, for the next year it appropriated four pounds 

'"'Akins, Thomas B., A Sketch of the Rise and Progress of the Church 
of England in the British North American Colonies, p. 17. DesBrisay, 
Mather H., History of the County of Lunenburg, Toronto, William 
Briggs, 1895, p. 81. 

"'Akins, Thomas B., A Sketch of the Rise and Progress of the Church 
of England in the British North American Colonies, p. 17. 

'"'Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, "Vol. 7, p. 125. 

""Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 210, p. 49. 

^"'Ibid., Vol. 134, p. 13. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 45 

each for tlie benefit of the Lutheran and Calvinistic teachers 
at Lunenburg.^"** 

An English school of more stable foundation was conducted 
at Lunenburg in 1758 by Mr. Bailly, an Anglican minister. 
It seems, however, to have been poorly attended. Moreau at- 
tributed this condition to dread of the Indians, but more 
likely it was due to the disaffection of the German element 
in the population.^"^ Mr. Bailly's school was an English 
school, not at all to the liking of the Germans. They ob- 
structed its progress by persistently refusing to send their 
children to Bailly for instruction. One of their number, a 
catechist of the name of Schultz, was engaged to set up a 
school in opposition to the English institution. Here he con- 
ducted services in the Lutheran rite and disciplined and 
taught the German children of the settlement. More success 
attended Bailly's efforts among the French, however. They 
showed themselves more amenable, sending a fair proportion 
of their children to the English school to be taught reading, 
writing and the catechism.^^° 

As time went on, the discontent among the Germans of 
Lunenburg became more active and acute, the trouble being 
centered chiefly about the question of education. The expec- 
tations of the Germans seem to have been to establish them- 
selves in a segregated settlement, where they would be free 
to perpetuate the customs and traditions of the home land. 
They were out of sympathy, consequently, with a school 
system that aimed at the complete anglicanization of their 
children. They wanted German schools disciplined by Ger- 
man schoolmasters. 

On the other hand, the S. P. G. policy was not designed to 
foster evidences of national differences opposed to British 
sentiment and tradition. To educate the people into a uni- 
form belief in religion was its prevailing purpose. Against 
the successful prosecution of this design the Germans pre- 
sented a more stubborn obstacle than did the French reacting 
more aggressively than the latter to what they regarded as 



^•^Ibid., Vol. 210, p. 49. 

^"'Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 216. 

"'Ibid., pp. 95, 216. 



46 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

an encroacliment on their privileges. When, with a view of 
pacifying the turbulence, Keverend Eobert Vincent was sent 
to Lunenburg as missionary and teacher in 1762, the situation 
was extremely critical. Violent demonstrations in protest 
against the school policy were made. No persuasion could 
induce the Germans to support the English school; they were 
determined and fixed in their intention to have a German 
teacher for their children at any cost. If coercion were at- 
tempted, there was danger that it would lead to serious con- 
sequences. Vincent's instructions, nevertheless, directed him 
to establish an English school. One hundred acres of land 
were reserved for his use. As teacher he was voted a yearly 
salary of twenty pounds by the Governor's Council at Halifax 
and five pounds additional by the Society for the Propagation 
of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.^" 

Vincent's appointment added fresh impulse to the prevalent 
discontent. The Germans were disappointed. After the cold- 
ness shown his predecessor they entertained the hope that the 
educational policy would undergo some modification and that 
their wishes would be consulted in the selection of the next 
teacher. Although Vincent estimated the number of German 
children in the settlement under twelve years of age to be 
596, none of them came to his school for instruction.^^- 

As a probable remedy for the provoking situation he re- 
quested the privilege of engaging a teacher from among the 
Germans to assist him with his classes, "for," he said, "the 
Germans are unwilling to have an English education if it costs 
them anything."^^^ Gotlieb Neuman, who had taught the Ger- 
man children prior to Vincent's arrival, accepted the proffered 
position. Although Neuman enjoyed a measure of favor 
among the German element, the administration of his classes 
under Vincent's supervision was displeasing to them. Vin- 
cent had to report in 1764 that the people of Lunenburg were 
very indifferent about sending their children to be taught. 
His mission, like Bailly's was apparently a failure. The 
Council, at least, convinced that such was the case, withdrew 



"^PuMic Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 204; Reports on the Canadian 
Archives, 1894, p. 229. 

^'-Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 230. 
'"Ibid., p. 239. 



Educatiox in Nova Scotia Before 1811 47 

the grant of twenty pounds. Left with but the S. P. G. al- 
lowance of five pounds, Vincent was obliged to discharge 
Neuman.^^^ Dissolution of the school followed almost im- 
mediately. 

Vincent's failure was not due altogether to his own improv- 
idence. His orders relative to the conduct of his school were 
explicit. Mr. Belcher appreciated his efforts and in his be- 
half exhorted the Society to raise his status thereby making 
him eligible for the full pay of a schoolmaster.^^^ 

Under the strain and worry of his onerous duties Mr. Vin- 
cent's health began to fail soon after the breaking up of the 
school. His last official communication to the Council is 
somewhat pathetic — he expresses surprise that his salaiy 
should be discontinued without premonition and prays that 
the allowance for rent be retained. Following this appeal, 
he resigned and setting out for London late in the fall of 
1765, after six months of inactivity, he died in Halifax on 
November 15.^^** 

In the chronicle of Jung, of contemporary date, the school 
difficulty at Lunenburg is imputed to the passive attitude 
the administrators assumed towards the educational aspira- 
tions of the Germans. They saw, he said, with injured feeling 
that the French proprietors, whom they outnumbered five- 
fold, were provided with a teacher at the moment of settle- 
ment while they were constrained to wait several years in the 
hope that similar recognition would be taken of the needs of 
their children.^^^ *'And," continues Jung, "because we could 
no longer endure to see the pitiful condition of our children, 
growing up in ignorance, we determined to wait no longer 
upon our superiors. We accordingly made the necessary 
arrangements among ourselves without governmental aid, and 
finally succeeded in securing the services of a German school 
teacher in the year 1760."^^^ When attendance at the school 
was good, he writes, "hindrances were laid in our way by 
those who should have given us aid. At this time the Rev- 



"*/&i(Z., p. 259. 

'"Ibid., p. 229. 

""Ibid., pp. 264; 265. 

"'Roth, Luther D., op. cit., pp. 206-207. 

''"Ibid., pp. 245-246. 



48 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

erend Eobert Vincent came into our settlement as English 
missionary. The services were conducted by him in the Eng- 
lish language. He took our German schoolmaster under his 
patronage and control, paying him a salary of five pounds 
per annum. . . . The German language was entirely abolished 
from our school, and the order was issued that those who 
would not study the English language would not be allowed 
to attend the school. . . . Through this the school was 
broken up."^^^ 

From their point of view the Germans had, no doubt, suffi- 
cient cause for complaint. They wanted to preserve their 
religion and they wished, even more ardently, perhaps, to 
perpetuate their language. Both these elements were in jeop- 
ardy in English schools supervised by Anglican schoolmasters 
who were at the same time ministers of their church. 

From the moment of their arrival in Halifax the Germans 
showed disappointment with the prospects the country offered 
for settlement. Likely it differed considerably from what had 
been represented to them. But though they may have been 
misinformed in respect to conditions obtaining in the colony, 
they had no cause to complain that they had been deceived 
in the matter of schools. No mention is made in the records 
of the period of assurances made the Germans that they were 
to enjoy educational privileges in their own tongue. Jung's 
criticism of government, that it offered no support to the Ger- 
mans in providing for their teachers, seems a bit unjust. State 
documents of the province show that in 1754 four pounds 
were appropriated by the Council for the benefit of a Lutheran 
teacher at Lunenburg.^-" He was probably Mr. Sey. As he 
was not, apparently, of German selection, Jung does not 
reckon him one of their teachers. Later on, though, as in the 
case of Neuman, German teachers at Lunenburg received com- 
pensation other than that provided by the inhabitants them- 
selves, the fact that they taught under supei^vision of the 
English school put them outside the class of representative 
German schoolmasters. It was not until many years after 
the departure of Vincent that the Germans at Lunenburg 
procured a teacher acceptable to their wishes. 



"Ubid., pp. 245-246. 
""See page 16. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 49 

Private Schools in Halifax. — In Halifax, the Orphan School 
was throughout this period the only institution for the public 
education of children. Yet among the older people, as a rule, 
a fair degree of scholarship prevailed. They being engaged 
usually in some department of governmental administration 
or commercial activity, the nature of the work stimulated 
learning to some extent. Many of the inhabitants, moreover, 
had received a good education in the old country. Occasion- 
ally they turned their talent towards private tuition. An act 
passed by the Council on the 10th of May, 1753, dispensing 
schoolmasters from obligation of bearing arms in the militia 
helped along this tendency.^^^ 

In the absence of public schools, private schools made their 
appearance early in Halifax. An advertisement in the first 
issue of the Halifax Gazette of date March 23, 1752, is the 
first notice we have of the existence within the town of a 
school for private instruction : 

At the sign of the hand & pen at the south end of Granville 
Street are carefully taught hy Leigh & Wragg, spelling, read- 
ing, writing in all its different hands, arithmetic in all its 
parts, merchants' accompts, or the true method of bookkeep- 
ing in a new and concise manner. Likewise all parts of the 
Mathematics, & for the convenience of grown people improv- 
ing their learning any of the above arts & sciences will be 
taught 2 hours every evening at 6 o'clock. 

N. B. The above Leigh draws engrosses and transcribes 
writing of all kinds, & adjusts accompts of ever so difficult & 
will keep them in methodical way by the year. 

N. B. The Mathematics by Wragg the other parts by 
Leigh. Sold at the above place Quill pens inks writing papers 
writing and spelling books & slate pencils.^-- 

Another school of the same nature but of humbler preten- 
sion was advertised in the same paper on March 26th of the 
same year: 

Beading school for children kept, & gold & silver lace 
cleaned & all sorts of silk also mournings stiffened by Eliza- 
beth Render near Mr. Tutty's new house on Barrington St.^^^ 

A private school offering a course rather encj'clopedic in 



"^Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 209, pp. 36 et seq. 
""■Halifax Gazette, Vol. 1, No. 1, March 23, 1752. 
^"IMd., March 26, 1752. 



50 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

scope was advertised in the issue of the Halifax Gazette for 
April 6th, 1752: 

At the Academy in Grafton Street. Young men are speed- 
ily instructed & well grounded in the true art of spelling by 
rules short & easy but expressive & comprehensible to almost 
the youngest capacity. They are likewise taught reading 
writing arithmetic, French, Latin & Dancing, Algebra, Geo- 
metry Trigonometry both plain and spherical the mensuration 
of Planes and Solids Surveying, gauging Navigation Astron- 
omy taught by Trigonometry or without any at all by a 
method more concise than can be effected by Trig, & much 
more easy to comprehend by an ordinary capacity, as the 
great & learned Mathematician Mr. Whiston hath testified & 
may be proved for the satisfaction of any who doubt by me 
Henry Merton. 

N. B. Young ladies as well as Gents taught dancing every 
Wed. & Sat. afternoon.^^* 

Although newspaper files for many years after contain no 
further notices of this description it seems very probable that 
private schools, not publicly advertised, existed throughout 
the city in the meanwhile. One fact corroborative of this 
opinion consists in the number of permits to teach issued by 
the Governor and Bishop before the passage of the school 
law of 1766. The Governor's commission book «hows that six 
licenses to teach passed under the great seal of the province 
during that period. While some of those schoolmasters, no 
doubt, followed their avocation in some of the outlying town- 
ships some of them remained in the city. Daniel Shatford's 
school, for instance, was a feature in the educational life of 
Halifax until his death in 1774.^25 

What was accomplished educationally in Nova Scotia dur- 
ing this period was not extensive. Until 1766 Halifax and 
Lunenburg were the only centers of population in the province 
where the need of schools and teachers was really felt. In 
the remoter parts of the province adjoining the Bay of Fundy 
and vicinity, in consequence of the efforts of Governor Law- 
rence, extensive areas were already being taken up by immi- 
grants from the New England colonies and from Protestant 



^"^Ihid., April 6, 1752. 

"'Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 165. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 51 

Ireland. But before 1766 little was doue in the waj' of school 
establishment in these districts. 

By the removal of the French in 1755 the inland sections of 
Nova Scotia were left practically deserted. Even while in the 
country the Acadians, as we have seen, attracted little atten- 
tion educationally except in so far as their conversion was 
considered from time to time. An able clergj^man of theirs, 
the Abbe Maillard, was their spiritual adviser for many years. 
He was in good standing with the administrators being in 
the latter part of his career in receipt of a stipend of one hun- 
dred pounds from the Council at Halifax.^^® His knowledge 
of the Micmac dialect and his production of a Micmac gram- 
mar and dictionary were regarded as remarkable achieve- 
ments of the time. 

In the principal settlement, Halifax, private schools com- 
bined with home instruction provided facilities for mental 
improvement for the better situated class of children. For 
the more ambitious of the poorer sort means of acquiring an 
elemental education was afforded by the Orphan School. In 
general principle, the tutorial system in vogue in Halifax at 
this time represented the transfer to Nova Scotia of ideals in 
educational method then in general observance in England. 

Educationally the most noteworthy issue of the period was 
the development of a school program for the province. Un- 
fortunately for future school expansion it made education a 
monopoly. The educational intolerance it engendered and 
the animosity and dissatisfaction it created gave rise to many 
a sharp discussion before its effects were finally obliterated 
from the school life of Nova Scotia. Its influence was still 
apparent well on into the middle of the last century. 



^■"Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 288. 



CHAPTEK III 

A PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT AND EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION 

1766—1780 

The settlement of Halifax, although constituting a land- 
mark in the history of Nova Scotia, did not materially assist 
in the development of the outlying parts of the province. 
The only evidence of Britain's effort to people Nova Scotia a 
decade afterwards was to be seen in the settlement at Hali- 
fax, the few families stationed at Canso, the German colony 
at Lunenburg, and the garrison at Annapolis. The interior 
of the country was yet untouched and the prospect of Nova 
Scotia becoming a settled colony was even then small.^-^ This 
gloomy outlook underwent some transformation, however, in 
the few succeeding years by the application of an effective 
settlement policy by Governor Lawrence. 

Following the removal of the Acadian French, Lawrence, 
in 1758, sent agents amongst the colonists of New England 
inviting them to the lands lately vacated by the French plant- 
ers in the vicinity of the Bay of Fundy and Minas Basin.^^^ 
He also issued an appeal for settlers from abroad and pro- 
claimed the policy to be observed in making grants of land 
in every county and township into which he proposed to 
divide the unoccupied lands. His plan was to apportion the 
land in townships of 100,000 acres each in which allotments 
were obtainable by prospective settlers in either large or small 
parcel. In some instances the king's mandamus was issued 
for areas, ten, twenty or more thousand acres in extent.^^® 

As a result of the application of those measures there was 
in the year 1763 a sprinkling of population along the coast- 
line from Halifax westward to Cape Sable and up the shore 
of the Bay of Fundy to the isthmus of Chignecto. Lunenburg 
comprising the three townships, Lunenburg, Chester and New 
Dublin, had a population of about 1,600 people; Queens County 



"'Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 223, Doc. 117. 
'"Akins, Thomas B., A Sketch of the Rise and Progress of the Church 
of England, etc., p. 31. 
'"-"Puhlic Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 223, Doc. 117; Vol. 346, Doc. 10. 

52 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 



53 



had 200 families in its three townships, Liverpool, Barring- 
ton and Yarmouth; Annapolis Conuty^ containing two town- 
ships — Annapolis and Granville — had about 800 settlers; the 
townships of Horton, Cornwallis, Falmouth and Newport 
forming Kings County had a combined population of 2,000. 
Truro Township was occupied by 53 proprietors and Onslow 
by 52. The shore from Tatamagouche to Canso was unin- 
habited and the coast from the latter place to Lawrence Town 
was known only to coasters and transient fishermen. The 
town of Halifax itself had at the same date 2,500 inhabit- 
ants.^o 

The School Lands. — In most of the townships laid out under 
Lawrence's direction lands were appropriated, in conjunction 
with reservations for church purposes, for the maintenance of 
a school and the support of a schoolmaster. By the year 1785 
the school-land reservations in 31 townships of the province 
aggregated 12,000 acres.^"^ A list indicating the location of 
most of these reservations and the year in which they were 
made follows :^^^ 



1759 
1761 
17G1 
1701 
1761 
1763 
1765 
1765 
1765 
1765 
1765 
1767 
1772 
1782 
1784 
1784 
1784 
1784 
1784 



600 acres reserved at Chester 
600 acres reserved at Horton 
600 acres reserved at Newport 
400 acres reserved at Falmouth 
400 acres reserved at Cornwallis 
500 acres reserved at Amherst 
500 acres reserved at Jeddore 
500 acres reserved at Truro 
500 acres reserved at Onslow 
500 acres reserved at Londonderry 
500 acres reserved at Granville 
500 acres reserved at Barrington 
500 acres reserved at Annapolis 
400 acres reserved at Windsor 
344 acres reserved at Shelburne 
500 acres reserved at Country Harbor 
500 acres reserved at Liverpool 
400 acres reserved at Lunenburg 
600 acres reserved at Sissibo. 



""Ibid., Vol. 222, Doc. 12; Reports on Canadian ArcJiives, 1904, p. 220. 
''■"Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 438, Doc. 58; Pascoe, C. F., 
op. cit., p. 119. 

"'Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 434, Doc. 1. 



54 Education in Nova Scotia Befork 1811 

Additional grants were made from time to time and oc- 
casionally the area of the old reservations increased. For 
the support of King's College numerous tracts of varying 
extent were reserved in different parts of the province. In 
1788, 402 acres were set apart for school purposes at Digby, 
and in 1792, 400 acres at Dartmouth. The school lot at Sis- 
sibo (Weymouth) was enlarged to COO acres in 1803, and in 
1810, 520 acres were appropriated for school purposes at Yar- 
mouth.^ ^^ By surveys conducted in 1813 previous land grants 
for schools were supplemented by an addition of 4,625 acres 
comprising tracts in twelve settlements in different parts of 
the province.^^* These latter parcels of land were made in 
favor of the Chief Justice of the province to be held in trust 
by the Bishop and the Secretary. 

These land concessions for school purposes were made in 
conformity with the agreement of the Lords of Trade with the 
S. P. G. in 1749; the Royal Orders issued to Governor Corn- 
wallis in 1749, and the more recent instructions given Gov- 
ernor Lawrence in 1756 authorizing him to reserve "a par- 
ticular spot in or near each town for the building of a church 
and four hundred acres adjacent thereto for the maintenance 
of a minister and two hundred acres for a schoolmaster ;"^^^ 
and to retain, likewise, over and above the stated amount, one 
hundred acres in each township free of quit rent for ten years, 
for the use of all schoolmasters sent out by the Society.^^® 
Prior to 1766 ministers of the Church of England exercised a 
sort of guardianship over the school plots lying in their re- 
spective parishes pending their occupation by duly appointed 
teachers. 

But because of a school law passed by the Nova Scotia Legis- 
lature in that year administration of all school lands in the 
province was vested in a board of trustees endowed with cor- 
porate powers. Usually the ministers of the parishes in which 
the lands were situated and the church wardens were named 
trustees. From this circumstance, partly, the view came to 
prevail that the original intention was to reserve these lands 

"'Ibid., Vol. 434, Doc. 1. 

^'*Ibid. 

"UUd., Vol. 348, Doc. 11. 

""/bid. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 55 

exclusively for the benefit of S. P. G. teachers although there 
had been no express agreement to that effect. The school lauds 
were, in fact, eventually regarded by the Society as being part 
of the church lands and in some cases, as for instance at Yar- 
mouth, they were sold and the proceeds applied for the use of 
the parish church."^ During the first half of the nineteenth 
century when the educational system of the province was un- 
dergoing a reorganization and the tendency was to divest it 
of its denominational character the school lands were a source 
of great annoyance to the Legislature. Proposals were made 
at various times to appropriate them for general educational 
purposes but on every occasion the S. P. G. vigorously resisted 
such attempts. 

The authority reserved to the Lord Bishop of London to 
verify all permits to teach in Nova Scotia, when applied, was 
a means of confining that privilege to persons professing the 
creed of the Established Church and thereby limiting to school- 
masters of that religious denomination exclusive enjoyment 
of lands reserved for school purposes. Throughout the eight- 
eenth century there is not an instance to be found in which 
any such license was granted to any other than a schoolmaster 
employed by the Society."^ 

In those townships in which the school lands remained un- 
occupied an additional difficulty was created by squatters who 
from time to time established themselves upon these reserves 
and protested when their eviction was attempted. Contentions 
resulting from this circumstance were frequently referred to 
the administration at Halifax for adjudication — notably the 
difficulty that arose in connection with the appointment of 
Mr. Fullerton, teacher to Horton township, in 1791,"^ and the 
controversy that ensued in 1802 when it was attempted to 
expel squatters who had settled on the school reservations at 
Weymouth.^*" 

The school law of 1811, although it indicated the drift to- 
ward non-denominational schools, made no attempt to make 
new disposal of the school lands; neither did the more com- 



"'Brown, George S., op. cit., p. 60. 

"'Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 438, Doc. 58. 

"'Ibid., Vol. 411, Doc. 21. 

''"Ibid., Vol. 396B. 



56 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

prehensive laws of 1826 and 1832. But when the school grants 
of 1813 were made an arrangement was contracted whereby 
they came under the control of the Bishop of the diocese and 
two trustees of the township in which they were located.^*'- 
They were administered in this manner until 1838 when it 
was contended in the Nova Scotia Legislature that, though the 
church and clergy lands might be retained for the sole use of 
the Church of England and its ministers, the school lands 
should revert to public control and might lawfully be applied 
to general educational purposes. Founded on this assump- 
tion, resolutions were made to alienate these lands from the 
authority of the S. P. G. and given hearings in the Assem- 
bly."^ 

The matter was brought fairly before the Imperial Govern- 
ment in 1839 when the Provincial Legislature passed "An 
Act to Provide for the selection and appointment of Trustees 
of Lands, granted, or otherwise allotted, as School Lands, or 
for Schools in this Province." The measure provided for the 
appointment of three trustees in every township and district 
"to take possession of all such lands, in or by any grant or 
grants, reserved, granted or set apart for Schools, or for the 
use of Schools, or as the School Lot, or as School Lands, and 
to improve the same, and to Lease the same for any term not 
exceeding Twenty-one years, to the best advantage, and to pay 
and apply the rents and profits of any such Lands, in the Edu- 
cation of Poor Children, or otherwise, to and for the use and 
benefit of Schools in such Township or District.""^ A clause 
was inserted stipulating that nothing in the act was to be 
construed so as to invalidate any lease on school lands which 
had already undergone legal execution. 

Sir Colin Campbell, then Governor of Nova Scotia, with- 
held his assent to the measure, submitting it to the Imperial 
Government for consideration. On this occasion the Bishop 
of Nova Scotia and the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel in Foreign Parts appealed successfully for its dis- 



'"Eaton, Arthur W. H., The History of Kings County, Nova Scotia, 
Salem, Mass., The Salem Press Company, 1910, p. 269. 

•"Akins, Thomas B., A Sketch of the Rise and Progress, etc., pp. 31-32. 
Pascoe, C. F., op. cit., p. 122. 

'"Laws and Statutes of Nova Scotia, 1836-1840, c. 32. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 57 

allowance. A statement of the imperial decision, transmitted 
to the Nova Scotia Legislature by Lord John Russell in Sep- 
tember, 1839, indicates the intricate nature of the problem. 
It is as follows :^** 

The claim advanced by the Bishop of Nova Scotia extends 
to the whole of the Lands set apart for Educational objects, 
whether already appropriated to these purposes, or already 
vested by the Provincial Act of 17(3G, in the hands of Trustees 
for the use of Schools. Her Majesty's Government are of 
opinion, that the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 
although not possessed of a strict Legal Right, have estab- 
lished an equitable claim to that portion of the Land which is 
already occupied and improved; and they consider that the 
Society should be left to the entire and unreserved possession 
of it, for the purpose to which it is at present dedicated; set- 
ting aside any other consideration, the Society in connexion 
with the Established Church of England and Ireland, have, 
by the extent and efficiency of their arrangements, for dis- 
pensing the benefits of education throughout the Province, 
entitled themselves to the free enjoyment of the property. 

You will have collected from what I have now stated, that 
it is not my intention to advise Her Majesty's Government to 
assent to the act passed in the last Session of the Provincial 
Legislature entitled, ''An Act to provide for the Selection 
and Appointment of Trustees of Lands granted or reserved or 
otherwise allotted as School Lands, or for Schools in this 
Province." The legal opinions which have been taken on this 
Act, confirm the doubt which was entertained by the Govern- 
ment as to the competency of the Local Legislature to exercise 
this jurisdiction over the Lands in question. The Act passed 
is open to the strong objection that it extends to all Lands 
originally reserved or granted for the purposes of Schools 
which must be plainly improper, so far as relates to Lands 
vested in Trustees appointed from time to time by the Gover- 
nor. Even if the claim of the Society had been altogether 
rejected, still the property, not having been found to be with 
them, would devolve on the Crown, and be disposable by the 
Crown, and not by the Local Legislature. But independently 
of what I have already Stated, it appears to me that the Act 
is liable to this other grave objection, that it seeks, by a direct 
exercise of power, to enforce a settlement of a question em- 
bodj'ing many important points of propriety rights and equi- 
table consideration which only could be satisfactorily ar- 
ranged, after a full examination of the grounds on which the 

'"Journals of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, 1839-1840. 



58 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

claims of the parties were founded. At the same time I 
should wish it to be distinctly understood that Her Majesty's 
Government do not express any dissent from the general views 
which the Legislature appear to entertain, were they to be 
applied to a nuitter upon which they could be allowed to oper- 
ate, with Justice to the Crown, and fairness to other parties. 

Should the Provincial Legislature undertake the settlement 
of the rules for the application of future Grants, Her 
Majesty's Government will readily concur in the Provisions of 
this Act for the management of any Lands which may here- 
after, from time to time, be devoted to Educational purposes. 

I will even go further to meet the views of the Legislature 
of Nova Scotia. 

With reference to the unoccupied portions of the Lands 
already granted, Her I\lajesty's Government are not prepared 
to admit the claim of the Society. Neither are they prepared 
to state the mode of appropriation which it would be just and 
proper to adopt with regard to this portion of the Lands. I 
entertain strong doubts, whether, in departing from the view 
taken by tlie Society as to their equitable title to these lands 
also, it might not be proper in a certain degree to qualify that 
dissent, and to admit their claim to a portion of them. Her 
Majesty's Government feel every disposition to meet the views 
of the Society, and to aid their exertions for this great public 
object ; and it would prove highly satisfactory to them if, by 
mutual concession on the part of the parties interested, this 
embarrassing question could be satisfactorily arranged. I 
would, therefore, suggest for your consideration, whether it 
might not be practicable to relieve the (lovernment from the 
further discussion of this question by the appointment of a 
Commission which might distinguish those Lands upon which 
the care and the Funds of the Society had been bestowed 
from those which had been left altogether waste and unprofit- 
able. Upon the Report of such a Commission, might be 
framed some measure in the Provincial Legislature, .with the 
Concurrence of the (lovernment, by which a partition of these 
reservations should be made, leaving one portion for the sup- 
port of the Schoohnasters of the Society, and the other for 
the purposes of Education generally. Some such arrange- 
ment provided it were so clearly defined as not to lead to liti- 
gation, although it would not meet the claims of either party, 
might be accepted by both as a means of reconciling those 
differences which cannot be protracted without injury to the 
province generally, and more to that important object which 
all parties have in view. 

Another attempt was made by the Assembly in 1850 to make 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 59 

legal disposal of the school lands. The legislative enactment 
of that year, entitled "An Act Concerning School Lands and 
the Appointment of Trustees therefor," was very similar in 
design to the act of 1839. It provided for the appointment of 
three trustees in every county and tovi^nship who, acting as a 
corporate body, were to assume control of the school lands 
within their respective localities. With the acquiescence of 
the Governor and Council, they were empowered to lease, sell 
or dispose of the reservations as they saw fit.^*^ A strong 
appeal for its rejection was again made by the Bishop of the 
province and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. 
The memorandum of the latter — a voluminous document of 
more than half a hundred foolscap pages — recapitulates the 
manner in which the Society acquired its original educational 
privileges in Nova Scotia and advances its claims to the 
school lands on the grounds of priority of occupation, expense 
incurred in their development and uniform tacit acquiescence 
of Government of the Society's exclusive right to them.^*'' 

As a result of these representations the bill met the same 
fate at the hands of the Imperial Government as did its pre- 
decessor. In view of the similarity of the measure to that of 
1839, Lord Grey, in replying, stated his surprise that no ex- 
planation had accompanied it indicating the grounds for its 
presentation. Attorney General Uniacke pointed out that the 
present bill differed from its predecessor in that it subjected 
the trustees to the recommendations of the Governor whereas 
the former bill simply required that the trustees report an- 
nually to the General Sessions of the Peace. The principal 
objection to the bill, as stated in Lord Grey's letter, was that 
it appeared to give the Lieutenant Governor authority to 
eject from their trusts trustees of the school lands howsoever 
appointed, jeopardizing thereby the position of those trustees 
appointed in connection with the S. P. G. He considered, 
therefore, that "it would be unjust to take away from the 
Society, Land on which it had incurred expense for the objects 
of its intentions; and that the Crown could not be advised 



'"^Acts of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia, 1845-1851, c. 19. 
"'Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 438, Doc. 58. 



60 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

to be a party to such a proceeding."^*^ But since it was the 
opinion of the imperial authorities that the Crown held all 
waste lands in the province, Lord Grey went on to say that 
he was not prepared "to contest the right of the Local Legis- 
lature to make such changes as may be thought expedient in 
the subsisting arrangements with regard to lands still held 
by the Crown, and upon which no exi3enditure had been in- 
curred by the Society.""® This was an important deviation 
from the attitude the Imperial Government assumed towards 
the bill of 1839, and, as matters transpired, proved to be a 
means of overcoming the difficulty. 

Following the recall by the S. P. G., about 1834, of its 
schoolmasters from Nova Scotia, not only the school lands 
that had never been applied to their intended purpose, but 
likewise those that had been at one time under occupation 
passed into the category of ''waste lands" ; and the Provincial 
Government, acting on the assumption of an indirect permis- 
sion accorded in 1850, has from time to time disposed of them 
as it saw fit. 

When the counties of the province were erected into munici- 
palities in 1879, the school lands, in most cases, became vested 
in the municipality in which they were located. As occasion 
arose, the Local Government has granted appeals made by 
those subordinate government units for permission to admin- 
ister their own school areas. Usually those lands have been 
appropriated for the purpose of general education. In some 
municipalities they have been sold or, where retained, let 
out on lease and the proceeds applied to help along "poor" 
sections. In some parts of the province they still remain un- 
touched. The Society, no longer having teachers in the prov- 
ince, has in a quiet way renounced its original claim to the 
school lands and has not attempted to interfere in their set- 
tlement under the education laws of the province. 

Early Schools of Kings County. — The rapid increase in pop- 
ulation attendant upon Governor Lawrence's appeal for set- 
tlers in 1759 and 1760 created, in some sections, a correspond- 
ingly greater demand for better educational facilities and 



"Journals of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, 1851, appendix 9. 
•"/bid. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 61 

more teachers. Kings County was the first in the province to 
profit by the immigrations. Horton and Cornwallis town- 
ships were settled by Connecticut planters in 1759 ; Falmouth 
by Rhode Islanders. Others from Massachusetts and New 
Hampshire joined them soon afterwards. In the four town- 
ships that then made up Kings County — Horton, Cornwallis, 
Falmouth, and Newport — there were 1,717 inhabitants in 
1763. Being intelligent people, many of them were anxious 
to secure an education for their children.^*^ 

Reporting to Halifax in the year 1763, Reverend Joseph 
Bennett, missionary to the district, stated that there were 951 
children in his constituency for whom teachers were urgently 
needed. Neither church nor school had yet appeared in this 
considerable area and as a consequence there was danger of 
those children growing up in a lamentable state of igno- 
rance.^'^ The inhabitants of Horton, the most populous town- 
ship in the county, in which there were 375 children, had 
already signified their willingness to co-operate in any effort 
to provide them with a teacher by starting a subscription 
among themselves for his support.^" A similar spirit pre- 
vailed throughout the other townships. Mr. Bennett, there- 
fore, recommended that two schoolmasters be appointed for 
the district. The proposal was endorsed by Mr. Belcher and 
the legislature appropriated twenty pounds for their sup- 
port.^^^ The allowance was too small and Mr. Bennett re- 
luctantly reported the following year that his attempt to get 
teachers on the small compensation he could offer was inffec- 
tual. He suggested the transfer of the money to Halifax. 
But three years later, in 1767, Kings County got its first 
teacher, Mr. Samuel Watts, who had been licensed to teach 
by Governor Lawrence in 1759. Mr. Watts taught his school 
at Windsor in the present county of Hants, receiving a stipend 



""Hawkins, Ernest, Historical Notices of the Missions of the Church 
of England in the North American Colonies Previous to the Independ- 
ence of the United States, London, 1845, p. 363. 

'^Hawkins, Ernest, op. ci^, pp. 363-364; Reports on the Canadian 
Archives, 1894, p. 238. 

"'Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 266. 

"Ubid., p. 266. 



62 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

of ten pounds per annum from the Society and a supple- 
mental amount from the proprietors.^ ^^ 

Another teacher, Mr. Haliburton, also a licentiate of the 
Society, came to Windsor in 17G9. In the same year Mr. Ben- 
nett stated that Haliburton had fourteen scholars under his 
tuition.^" 

No further information of schools in the Kings district 
before 1780 is available. But it is probable that the county 
enjoyed neighborhood schools prior to this date and that oth- 
ers also existed of which we have no record. Writing in 1771, 
Mr. Bennett said: "We have got a small Chapel at Windsor 
which answers for Church for me, for a Meeting-house when- 
ever a Dissenting Minister happens to come that way in my 
absense, and for a school-house on week days. It was built 
by subscription of the inhabitants indiscriminately."^^^ 

Early Scfiools of Ammpolis. — After the departure of Watts 
in 1739 difficulty was experienced in procuring a chaplain 
for Annapolis. An invitation was extended to a Reverend 
Mr. Clarke, missionary at Dedham, Massachusetts, to settle 
in the township but according to Hawkins the engagement 
was not contracted.^^'^ In 17G3, when Reverend Thomas 
Wood, traveling missionary to the western districts of the 
province, visited Annapolis, he found 800 persons there desti- 
tute of all religious care. He therefore engaged James Wilkie, 
a resident of the place, to act as catechist to the inhabitants. 
Mr. Wilkie also did similar service for the people of the 
neighboring township of Granville. So successful was he with 
his school that in 1765 he was granted a license by the Gov- 
ernor and his name placed on the list of S. P. G. teachers 
for the province.^" His burdens were lighteaed the same year 
by the appointment of John Morrison instructor and catechist 
for the township of Granville. Morrison, like Wilkie, enjoyed 
the patronage of the S. P. G. His license was procured 
the same time as Wilkie's,^^® 

During the last year of Wood's ministry, Nathaniel Fisher 



"'Ibid., p. 239; Eaton, Arthur W. H., op. cit., p. 334. 

•"Akins, Thomas B., A Sketch of the Rise and Progress, etc., p. 24. 

""Hawkins, Ernest, op. cit., pp. 363-364. 

^"'Ibid., p. 363. 

"'Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, pp. 246, 265. 

^'^Ptiblic Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 165, p. 386. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 63 

was schoolmaster for Annapolis and Granville. As there was 
for a time after Mr. Wood's death in 1778 no minister sta- 
tioned in this district Fisher was accustomed to read the 
prayers and preach on Sunday to the inhabitants of these 
townships.^^^ For this reason we sometimes find him referred 
to as rector. He was relieved of the religious function by 
Joshua Wingate Weeks in 1781. Weeks, assisted by a young 
clergyman named Bailey, was rector of the three townships, 
Annapolis, Granville and Clements.^"" He was not, however, 
the first resident clergyman of the district, for Mr. Wood, to- 
wards the latter part of his life, was located permanently at 
Annapolis. Wood's interest in education is indicated by his 
achievement in producing a grammar and dictionary of the 
Micmac tongue. In pursuing this work he was greatly assist- 
ed by what had previously been accomplished in this direction 
by the French Catholic priest, M, Maillard. 

Schools in Yarmouth and Queens Counties. — In the town- 
ships of Queens County, the school lands seem to have re- 
mained vacant much longer than did those of Annapolis and 
Kings. When Liverpool township was surveyed, one share 
was set apart for the maintenance of a school. The same rule 
was observed in laying out Yarmouth township. But how- 
ever numerous may have been private schools, we do not hear 
of schools being in operation in this section of the province 
until the arrival in force of the Loyalists during the eighties. 

With the exception of Lunenburg and outside of Kings and 
Annapolis Counties, the same observation is true as regards 
other districts of Nova Scotia. In 1759, Truro and Onslow 
began to be settled, and in 1766 these townships with the 
Londonderry region had, according to Governor Francklin, a 
combined population of 691."^ Londonderry was settled 
about 1761 chiefly by Protestant settlers from the north of 
Ireland brought out by the planter, Alexander McNutt. New 
Dublin township, contiguous with Chester, was granted to 
Connecticut proprietors in 1760, but remained practically un- 



"'Ibid., Vol. 136. 

""Calnek, W. A., History of the County of Annapolis, Toronto, Wil- 
liam Briggs, 1897, p. 297. 

"'Murdoch, Beamish, A History of Nova Scotia or Acadie, Halifax, 
James Bowen, Printer and Publisher, 1866, Vol. 2, p. 463. 



64 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

occupied until regranted to Germans somewhat later. Pictou 
began to be settled in 1767-1768 and following years by fam- 
ilies from Pennsylvania and Maryland,"^ Nothing of educa- 
tional note, however, was done in these settlements for an- 
other decade or more. In other parts of the Province settle- 
ment did not begin to any extent until the arrival of the Loy- 
alists. It should be noted, however, that in 1770 the Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel in, Foreign Parts had 
seven schoolmasters and six missionaries laboring in Nova 
Scotia.^^^ 

Schools in Lunenburg. — In Lunenburg, upon retirement of 
Reverend Mr. Vincent, Mr. Bryzelius was ordained to fill the 
vacancy. This gentleman was a native of Sweden, and prior 
to this time had labored as teacher in New Jersey and in 
Pennsylvania. He arrived in Lunenburg in 1767, an appointee 
of the S. P. G.^^* 

The government gratuity of twenty pounds per year for the 
benefit of a German schoolmaster, revoked shortly before 
Vincent's dismissal, was not renewed. Nevertheless the ex- 
pense account for Lunenburg returned to the Provincial Gov- 
ernment the next year contained an entry of twenty pounds 
in payment of the services of two schoolmasters. Governor 
Francklin, although he allowed the appropriation to stand, 
reminded the administrators of the township that such grant 
had been discontinued and directed that in future no such 
expense should be contracted in the name of the province.^^° 
The teachers for whom this money was intended were likely 
of German selection. 

The Germans did not take kindly to Mr. Bryzelius. When 
his successor, Reverend Peter De La Roche, arrived in 1771 
they gave expression to their displeasure by separating them- 
selves from the congregation and erecting a house of worship 
of their own."*^ De La Roche, nevertheless, succeeded in pre- 
vailing upon the people of his mission, in 1773, to build a 
school-house for the French and assist them in the support of 



"'Ibid., p. 510. 

"^Hawkins, Ernest, op. cit., p. 159, note 1. 

"*Akins, Thomas B., A Sketch of the Rise and Progress, etc., p. 19. 

^'^Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 136. 

"'Akins, Thomas B., A Sketch of the Rise and Progress, etc., p. 19. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 65 

their schoolmaster, Keverend Mr. Baily. Their contribution, 
Hawkins informs us, consisted of forty bushels of grain and 
twenty-four cords of wood.^®^ 

The success attending De La Koche's efforts was a source 
of satisfaction to the administrators. Receding from its for- 
mer aloofness the Government offered to give "any allowance 
or assistance in its power as soon as a person well qualified 
should be found to teach the English language" and in every 
other respect proper."^ The school lands that had lain un- 
occupied since Vincent's departure were also transferred to 
the new schoolmaster. 

These arrangements led to the renewal of Neuman's license 
in 1782 and the appointment of Francis Rudolf in the same 
year to teach an elementary school at Lunenburg. In 1785, 
a teacher in harmony with their wishes was secured for the 
people of Lunenburg. He was John Philip Aulenbach, a 
native of Hanover, who had come to Shelburne with the New 
England immigrants in 1783. The Germans engaged him to 
teach in the parochial school and to lead the singing in the 
Lutheran Church.^"^ During a prolonged illness of pastor 
Schmeisser, Mr. Aulenbach officiated in holding public divine 
service, read services over the dead and gave catechetical lec- 
tures in the Lutheran church. He did lengthy service to the 
people of Lunenburg, retaining his post in the parochial 
school until his death in 1820.^^" 

Schools in Halifax. — In Halifax, the Orphan School suffered 
a period of deterioration owing principally to the incompe- 
tent management of Mr. Sharrock's successor, Buchanan. He 
was dismissed from service in 1762 for not being able to ac- 
count for the adverse financial standing of the school.^^^ But 
a multiplication of private schools provided for the educa- 
tional needs of the children of the Capital. 

In the issue of the Isfova Scotia Chronicle and Weekly Ad- 
vertiser for October 10-17, 1769, there appears the following 
advertisement : 



"'Hawkins, Ernest, op. cit., pp. 358-359. 

^'^Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 136. 

"»Roth, Luther D., op. cit., p. 363. 

""lUd., op. cit., p. 364. 

"^Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 230. 



66 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

At the House of Mr, Lewis Beloiid 
There is to commence immediately 



NIGHT SCHOOL 

Where Youth will be carefully taught & instructed 
in Eeadiug, Writing, Arithmetick, and the principal 
Branches of the Mathematics, together with Book- 
keeping in all its Parts, according to the most ap- 
prov'd Method now in Use; Any who are inclined to 
learn the chief or particular Branch of the aforesaid, 
may expect it on the most reasonable Terms; and 
their Favours gratefully acknowledged by 

L. Beloud. 
N. B. Any Gentleman or Lady, who chooses to 
learn French or Dancing shall be attended on, in 
Schooll or private Hours.^'- 

On the first of November, 1774, Eobert M'Gowan, through 
the columns of the Chronicle and Advertiser, gave notice to 
"young Gentlemen apprentices and others of this town" that 
he intended "beginning to keep Evening School, upon Tues- 
day night 1st of November from six to eight" where he would 
teach writing, arithmetic and bookkeeping. He solicited the 
attendance of "such young gentlemen as incline to spend the 
evening for their improvement in any of these branches, "^^^ 

James Tanswell, who came to Halifax in 1774, opened a pri- 
vate school in town the following year. His advertisement in 
the Nova Scotia Gazette, and Weekly Chronicle on August 15, 
1775, reads: "Scho'ol will be opened To-morrow morning as 
usual, Tanswell."^^* 

Samuel Scott started an evening school in Halifax in 1779 
offering Instruction in writing, bookkeeping, mensuration, 
land surveying, gauging, navigation, dialing, architecture, etc. 
The school was advertised to begin on October 25th and to 
continue throughout the winter. Hours of study were from 
six to nine every evening.^^" Another school, to teach the pri- 



""Nova Scotia Chronicle and Weekly Advertiser, October 10-17, 1769, 
Vol. 1, No. 42. 

"'The Nova Scotia Chronicle and Weekly Advertiser, November 1, 
1775, Vol. 5, No. 1. 

"^Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 301, Doc. 18. 

"Uhid., October 19, 1779. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 67 

mary branches, was opened in Halifax the following year by 
Samuel Gray.^^*' 

It seems evident that the work of those private schools was 
supplemented to a considerable extent by instruction given at 
home under parental direction. Among the more intellectual 
element of the population indications are that this practice 
was very prevalent. We read in the ISlova Scotia Gazette and 
Weekly Chronicle of date November 2, 1779, that on the next 
evening a lecture would be delivered at Mr. Willis' assembly 
room, a leading feature of which would be an exposition "of 
the method of Teaching young children to read both Prose 
and Verse." The announcement states further that the lec- 
ture would be illustrated by readings from Shakespeare, Pope 
and Addison. That a commercial enterprise should hope to 
obtain a paying audience by appealing to the pedagogical and 
literary tastes of the Halifax public seems to be a fair indi- 
cation of a diffused interest in education among the people 
of the Capital. 

The Itinerant Teacher. — The prototype of the Halifax pri- 
vate schoolmaster throughout the sparsely settled districts of 
the province was, in those days, the itinerant schoolmaster. 
His appearance was consequent on the enhanced need for 
teachers after the immigrations of 1760 and following years 
and the inability of the S. P. G. teachers to meet all edu- 
cational demands of the settlers. 

He was a quaint figure, this traveling schoolmaster, in the 
social life of early pioneer days. Fortified with a fund of 
knowledge that often did not transcend the limits of the three 
R's he wandered from village to village and from house to 
house instructing for his keep or a small fee. His meager 
store of knowledge he supplemented by an inexhaustible fund 
of fable and witticisms committed to memory for the delecta- 
tion of his pupils or the entertainment of his host by the fire- 
side at night. On account of his congenial companionship he 
usually made his presence in the village very agreeable. 

Thomas C. Haliburton, in the Clockmaker, has immortalized 
the memory of this odd character, the traveling teacher. He 
introduces him to us carrying a small bundle in his hand tied 



"»7&id., September 26, 1779. 



68 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

up in a dirty silk pocket handkerchief and dressed in an old 
suit of rusty black. His appearance was, moreover, fre- 
quently marred by traces of the evil effects of an inordinate 
use of intoxicating liquors. And still if his appearance and 
conduct were not always such as would pass modern scrutiny 
as edifying to the classroom, he, nevertheless, possessed a sort 
of pioneer roughness, a rude sincerity, that reflected hardi- 
hood, not unsuited to the times, on the children he taught. 
''Grim and rough as he was, there were streaks of kindness 
in his heart if you could ever strike them." And if his knowl- 
edge was not encyclopedic, he at least knew how to impart 
effectively the information he possessed. 

The traveling schoolmaster had an individual system of 
pedagogics — the fruit of personal experience. The instru- 
ments of teaching he usually supplied himself. Books were 
scarce but Bibles and religious tracts carefully harbored by 
some literary family in the community were frequently bor- 
rowed for reading. For writing, almost anything susceptible 
to the imprint of a pencil might be requisitioned for use in the 
classroom. Haphazard as was his teaching the influence of 
the itinerant teacher was not without its merit in days when 
schools were few and an education hard to get. 

The School Laio of 176G. — The school conducted by the free- 
lance itinerant teacher enjoyed, of course, no legal recogni- 
tion and consequently received no encouragement from Gov- 
ernment or the S. P. G. As a matter of fact, those school- 
masters were regarded with no little amount of suspicion and 
disfavor both by the administration and the Society. The 
latter, especially, looked upon their activities as open infringe- 
ment on a right reserved for its schoolmasters alone. 

Moreover, when the need for teachers was acute, zealous 
parents did not stop to challenge the religious views of the 
traveling teacher before entrusting their children to him for 
instruction. This was a matter prejudicial to the stated 
school policy of the province. It was, to a large extent, to 
check this custom and to curtail the freedom the itinerant 
teacher enjoyed that the school law of 1766 was enacted. The 
ostensible intent of the school legislation of that year was to 
re-assert the lawful control of educational activities in Nova 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 69 

Scotia by the S. P. G., as a law of 1758 had proclaimed the 
Church of England the legal religious form of worship within 
the province. 

Jonathan Belcher, writing to the Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Gospel in 1763, deeply deplored the rejection, by 
the Local Assembly, of a measure ''to restrain the means of 
instruction and the institution of schools" and the unfortu- 
nate passing of a bill ''vesting in nominees of freeholders 
powers belonging to parish churches and vesteries."^" He was 
apprehensive lest some harm should result from undue exer- 
cise of discretionary powers in the selection of teachers.^^* 
He recommended to the Society that it make rigorous and im- 
mediate effort to send schoolmasters to those districts in the 
province in which no representative teachers were located. 

Failing to secure a repeal of this measure, Mr. Belcher, on 
June 10, 1766, introduced a bill into the Council for the 
"Establishment, Regulation and Support of Schools." It was 
submitted immediately to its first and second reading but, 
because of its importance, the Council resolved itself into a 
committee of the whole board to consider its provisions. The 
report being heard, the bill was engrossed with some amend- 
ments. It underwent further modification at the hands of 
the Assembly. In these, the Council refused to concur. To 
avoid its complete rejection, a conference committee was 
appointed by both branches of the Legislature and a com- 
promise reached. The bill received the Governor's assent on 
July 5, 1766. 

The first clause of section one of the act provided for the 
licensing of grammar school teachers throughout the province. 
It did not attempt to specify the necessary scholastic require- 
ments of the applicant but it stated the manner in which such 
a license was to be secured, leaving it to the judgment of the 
issuing parties to decide when the candidate possessed eligi- 
ble qualifications. Obviously its design was to abolish the 
system of indifferent teaching practiced in the outlying settle- 
ments by unauthorized teachers. The license thus secured 
was of local application and could be obtained by submitting 



^"Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 248. 
"'Ibid. 



70 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

to an examination by the parish minister or, in his absence, 
by two justices of the peace who made the necessary recom- 
mendation to the Governor. Ratification by the latter was 
necessary before a license became valid. The whole of this 
clause is as follows : 

Be it enacted hy the Commander-m-Chief, and Assembly, 
that no person shall hereafter set up or keep a grammar 
school within this Province, till he shall first have been exam- 
ined by the minister of such town wherein he proposes to keep 
such grammar school, as to the qualifications for the instruc- 
tion of children in such schools ; and where no minister shall 
be settled, such examination shall be made by two Justices of 
the Peace, for the county, together with a certificate from at 
least six of the inhabitants of such town, of the morals and 
good conduct of such schoolmaster, which shall be transmitted 
to the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or Commander-in-Chief, 
for the time being, for obtaining a license, as by His Majesty's 
royal instruction directed.^^^ 

The succeeding clause of the same section had particular 
reference to the schools of Halifax. It stipulated: 

That no person shall set up or keep a school for instruction 
of youth in reading, writing, or arithmetic, within the town- 
ship of Halifax, without such examination, certificate and li- 
cense, or in any other manner than is before directed ; and 
every such schoolmaster who shall set up or keep a school con- 
trary to this Act, shall for every offence, forfeit the sum of 
three pounds, upon conviction before two Justices of the 
Peace of the county where such person shall so offend, to be 
levied by warrant of distress, and applied for the use of the 
school of the town where such offence shall be committed. 

Nowhere in the act is intimation given as to what class of 
institution is alluded to by the designation ''grammar school." 
But, since prior to the opening of the grammar school at 
Halifax in 1789, there existed nowhere in the province an 
educational institution approximating our conception of a 
grammar school, we might reasonably suppose that the fram- 
ers of the law had in mind, when they drafted this clause of 
the act, the schools of the province generally; while the 
additional clause, covering in an especial manner the schools 



"'Laws and Statutes of Nova Scotia, c. 7, Sec. 1. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 71 

of Halifax, was in their view designed to regulate the man- 
agement of the several private schools of the Capital. 
Section 2 of the act provided that : 

No person shall presume to enter upon the said office of 
schoolmaster until he shall have taken the oaths appointed 
to be taken instead of the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, 
and subscribed the declaration openly in some of His Majesty's 
courts, or as shall be directed by the Governor, Lieutenant- 
Governor, or Commander-in-Chief for the time being, and if 
any popish recusant, papist, or person professing the popish 
religion, shall be so presumptuous as to set up any school 
within this Province, and be detected therein, such offender 
shall, for every such offence, suffer three months imprison- 
ment without bail or mainprize, and shall pay a fine to the 
King of ten pounds, and if any one shall refuse to take the 
said oaths and subscribe the declaration, he shall be deemed 
and taken to be a popish recusant for the purposes so before 
mentioned. 

This section in combination with the preceding one dis- 
closes evidence of the intention of the law to confine the 
privilege of teaching in the province to adherents of the Es- 
tablished Church alone. Although the express disabilities it 
inflicted on Catholics disguised, in a measure, this purpose, 
subsequent developments revealed the true nature of its pro- 
visions. 

Section 3 reaffirmed the land grants for school purposes and 
made provision for their administration by trustees. 

And tcJiercas his Majesty has been pleased to order that 
four hundred acres of land in each toimiship, shall he granted 
to and for the use and support of schools, he it enacted, That 
said quantity of lands shall be vested in trustees for said pur- 
pose, and such trustees shall be and are hereby enabled to sue 
and defend for and on behalf of such schools, and to improve 
all such lands as shall be most for the advantage and benefit 
thereof. 

The merits of the law as a whole were not exceptional. It 
did, by the license regulations it imposed, attempt to give a 
semblance of uniformity to our schools and it helped to pro- 
tect children from any deleterious influences to which they 
might have been exposed bj^ the teaching of free-lance school- 
masters. But its terms were more negative than positive. It 



72 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

tended to deprive settlements of teachers of their own choice 
and it made little or no provision to replace them by duly 
qualified ones. If it did not impede educational progress it 
can scarcely be credited with having accelerated the free de- 
velopment of schools in the province. With the exception of 
the clauses of the excise law of 1794, which provided financial 
assistance for schools by imposing an additional tax of three 
pence per gallon on all light wines entering the ports of the 
province, it was, however, the only school law of general appli- 
cation to the province passed by the local legislature in the 
eighteenth century.^^*' 

Licensing of SoJioolmasters. — The sections of the school law 
of 1766 dealing with the licensing of schoolmasters, which is 
the principal feature of the act, were promulgated in accord- 
ance with the royal instructions addressed from time to time 
to the governors of the province. A special order issued to 
Governor Phillips in the year 1729 directed him to apply to 
the j)rovince the school regulations then in force in His 
Majesty's colony of Virginia.^^^ These in part decreed that 
''no schoolmaster be henceforth permitted to come from this 
kingdom (Great Britain) to keep school in that Our said 
Colony without the license of the said Lord Bishop of Lon- 
don; and that no other person now there or that shall come 
from other parts shall be admitted to keep school in Virginia 
without your license first obtained."^^^ Identical instructions 
were given Governor Wilmot of Nova Scotia in 1764.^^^ 

The first license issued to a schoolmaster in Nova Scotia is 
entered in the Governor's Commission Book for the year 1759. 
The Reverend John Breynton, Rector of St. Paul's Church, 
Halifax, having by authority of the Governor's warrant ex- 
amined certain applicants for teachers' permits, reported on 
September 6th of that year to Secretary Bulkeley as follows: 

Sir: 

In Obedience to His Excellency the Governor's Directions 
to me, signified by warrant dated the 3rd Instant, I have en- 



^^"Laws and Statutes of Nova Scotia, 1794. 
^^'Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 348, Doc. 3. 
"'Ibid., Vol. 348, Doc. 4. 
^''Ibid., Vol. 249, Doc. 9. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 73 

quired and strictly examined intoi the Life & Conduct and 
other requisite Qualifications of Daniel Shatford, Lewis Be- 
loud, and Samuel Watts to keep Schools in this Province; 
You will therefore be pleased to lay before His Excellency the 
following report. — 

Daniel Shatford was born in Glocester Shire and brought 
up in the Church of England and now declares himself of that 
persuasion. He received a School Education under his Father 
a professed Schoolmaster and was himself licensed for the 
same Occupation by the Bishop of Glocester. Since his ar- 
rival in America he instructed Youth with Success and Eepu- 
tatiou in New York in several Branches of useful Knowledge. 
Upon the Strictest Enquiry, I find him well qualified to teach 
Grammar and the lower Latin Classes, Writing, Arithmetic, 
Bookkeeping and Navigation. 

Lewis Beloud, a native of the Canton of Berne in Switzer- 
land was bred a Protestant as appears by his Credentials. 
He and his wife may be very useful in teaching Children to 
read English or French. 

Samuel Watts was born in London, brought up a Protestant 
Dissenter and professes himself such now. He formerly 
taught School among Several English Families settled at 
Esequebo under the Dutch Government, but lost his Testi- 
monials by a Shipwreck. I find him capable of teaching Eng- 
lish, Writing and Arithmetic. 

I am with all due esteem 

Sir, 
Your Most Obedient humble Servant, 

(Signed) John Breynton. 
Halifax 

6 Sept. 1759, 

To Richard Bulkeley Esq 
Secretary."^^* 

In consequence of these recommendations the several par- 
ties were licensed by the Governor. Below is given the form 
of Mr. Shatford's certificate which became a type for subse- 
quent permits of this kind : 

By His Excellency Chas. Lawrence, 
Esquire & & 
License is hereby granted to Daniel Shatford to keep a 
School at Halifax for teaching Writing, Arithmetic, Book- 
keeping, Navigation, English and Latin, he appearing quali- 
fied and having taken the Oath» of Allegiance, Supremacy and 
Abjuration This License to continue during good behavior. 

""Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 165, pp. 3-4. 



74 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

Given under my Hand & seal at Halifax 
this Eighth day of September 1759. 
(Signed) Chas. Lawrence. 
By His Excellency's Command 

ElCHARD BULKELEY^ Sccy 

Mr. Daniel Shatford, Schoolmaster."^^^ 

Mr. Beloud and Mr. Watts were given permission to keep 
school in Halifax also, the former to teach English and 
French, the latter English, writing and arithmetic. No ex- 
press mention is made in Beloud's commission that his wife 
received authority to assist him in his work. But from the 
nature of Dr. Breynton's recommendation we might infer that 
she secured, at least, an implicit permission to do so. If this 
supposition is correct, Mrs. Beloud was, so far as records 
show, the first woman to obtain official permission to teach 
in Nova Scotia after the conquest. 

As we have noted elsewhere, Mr. Shatford kept school in 
Halifax until his death in 1774. Mr, Beloud, according to an 
advertisement in the Weekly Advertiser of Halifax in 1769, 
appears by this time to have acquired the privilege of teach- 
ing several subjects in addition to those enumerated in his 
license cited above. The name of Mr. Watts appears in the 
state papers of 1767 as recently appointed schoolmaster to 
Windsor. 

In the Governor's Commission Book, also for the year 1759, 
is recorded a letter written by Mr. Bulkeley to Dr. Breynton 
requesting him to examine into the qualifications of Mr. John 
Walker who had made application for permission to keep 
school.^^® Dr. Breynton finding him qualified to teach read- 
ing, writing and common arithmetic, a license was granted 
him for this purpose. The next license recorded is that of 
Gotlieb Neuman to keep an English school at Lunenburg in 
1760.^®^ There, as we have seen, Neuman became assistant to 
the Reverend Mr. Vincent. Another license was granted in 
1762 to James Juan to keep a school in Halifax for teaching 
Latin, French, writing, arithmetic and bookkeeping during 
good behavior. 



^'^IMcl., p. 5. 
'^"Ibid., p. 21. 
'"Ibid., p. 79. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 75 

We read in the Commission Book for 1705 record of the 
license granted John Morrison to teach writing, arithmetic, 
bookkeeping, navigation, English and Latin. His license, 
procured on submission to the usual oaths, was to continue 
during pleasure. On the same date a similar license was pro- 
cured for James Wilkie. Both these gentlemen kept school 
in Annapolis County where they were pioneers in their pro- 
fession.^^® 

The last teachers' certificate issued under the old policy was 
that of William Lynch dated March 31, 1766, bestowing on 
him authority to teach a classical school at Halifax ;^^^ and 
the first granted according to the provisions of the law of 
1766 was Mr. Joshua Tufts'. Another was granted Edward 
Broadfield in November, 1768, to teach an elementary school 
in Halifax followed by a license for Henry Foster in 1772 to 
open a school in the same place.^^° Elias Jones secured per- 
mission to establish a classical school in Halifax in 1770.^'*^ 
A purely mathematical school was started by Joseph Peters 
in Halifax in 1773. The course Peters' school ofifered com- 
prised 'Practical Geometrj^ Mensuration of Superficies and 
Solids, Trigonometry and the Art of Navigation."^''^ Mr. Rob- 
ert M'Gowan, who conducted an evening school in Halifax in 
1774, procured his license from the Governor that same year. 

The Commission Book gives record of three certificates to 
teach in Halifax in 1777: To James Tanswell to conduct a 
school chiefly classical, to Samuel Gray to teach an elemen- 
tary school, and to John Wenamor to keep a school of the 
same standard.^'^^ Among the subjects enumerated in Mr. 
Tanswell's program we find mentioned, logic, geography and 
the use of the globes. An equal number of permits were 
issued the following year the recipients being Samuel Scott, 
Joseph Hastings and James Done. The next entry is for the 
year 1784 when John Leslie and Jacob Foreman were com- 
missioned to teach in Halifax. Then come the licenses of 1786 



"*/&id., p. 386. 
'^UMd., p. 253. 
""Ibid., Vol. 170, p. 3. 
""Ibid., p. 61. 
''"-Ibid., p. 102. 
""Ibid., pp. 233-234. 



76 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

to George Grant, James FuUerton and George Glynne. Ful- 
lerton's license bears the clause "this license to continue dur- 
ing good behavior and not teaching any religious doctrines."^*** 
It was renewed in 1790 when Fullerton was made S. P. G. 
teacher at Horton. Glynne is perhaps the man who Patterson 
says taught in Pictou County about the beginning of the nine- 
teenth century.^'*^ 

With the erection of Nova Scotia into a bishopric of the 
Anglican Church in 1787, a slight change was made in the 
manner of granting the teachers' license. The certificate 
which up to this time required the assent of the Lord Bishop 
of London was henceforth to be rendered valid when approved 
by the Bishop of the province. In the case of non-conformist 
teachers, however, the seal of the province was suflScient from 
now on to give the certificate legality. The royal instructions 
to the Governor of the province on the subject were as follows : 

It is Our Will and Pleasure that no person shall be allowed 
to keep a School in the Province under your Government, 
without your License first had & obtained. 

In granting which you are to pay the most particular at- 
tention to the Morals and proper Qualifications of the Per- 
sons applying for the same, and; in all Cases where the School 
has been founded, instituted or appointed for the Education of 
Members of the Church of England or where it is intended 
that the School-Master should be a Member of the Church of 
England, you are not to grant such Licenses except to Per- 
sons who shall first have obtained from the Bishop of Nova 
Scotia, or one of his Commissioners, a Certificate of their be- 
ing properly qualified for that Purpose.^*'*' 

Development of the Province. — Before the end of this period 
considerable accessions had been made to the population of 
Nova Scotia by the arrival of numerous refugees from the Old 
Colonies and Scots from Scotland. Wherever those people 
settled they remained, in a measure, isolated. The principal 
means of communication between even the most populous set- 
tlements was still by water, when the village happened to be 



''"Ibid. 

""Patterson, Reverend George, A History of the County of Pictou, 
Nova Scotia, Montreal, 1877, p. 157. 

""Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol 172, p. 1; Vol 349, Doc. 37. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 77 

by the seashore or on the banks of a navigable stream. In the 
interior sections intercourse was had by means of blazed 
paths through the forest. It was reported to the Board of 
Trade in 1768 that the population of the province was about 
15,000. The inhabitants were settled in communities "ex- 
tremely dispersed and extended" and communication between 
them was "greatly interrupted by water and almost impass- 
able woods and roads."^^^ 

A road was begun from Halifax to Sackville in 1769."^ 
The following year a lottery was started to raise money to de- 
velop a highway system for the province. The first regular 
post between Halifax and Annapolis was started in the sum- 
mer of 1785, a courier making the distance between the two 
places once a fortnight.^^® The next year commissioners were 
appointed by the Governor to supervise the construction of 
roads between the principal settlements in the province. 
Work was begun in this year on the highway between Halifax 
and Rawden-Douglas. 

The difficulty of securing an education under circumstances 
so unfavorable may be readily imagined. The most efficient 
schools in the province were as yet of mediocre standard even 
in the most populous districts and they stood long distances 
apart, separated by stretches of virgin forest traversed by an 
occasional road or path. To reach them enterprising pupils 
sometimes made long and difficult journeys on horseback. 
Efforts of this kind, indicative of the high regard our ances- 
tors had for learning, become more conspicuous towards the 
latter part of this period as the land began to be settled by 
men of a scholarly type of mind. 

Until the end of the century, however, there must have been 
people in sparsely settled districts of the province as yet en- 
tirely unacquainted with the methods of schools. They had, 
as patron of learning, the traveling schoolmaster, conspicuous 
still by his oddity and urbanity. Though the school law of 
1766 challenged his authority to teach, prevailing conditions 
saved him from extinction for many years yet. 



'"Ibid., Vol. 43. Doc. 37. 

''^Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, pp. 296, 298. 
""Akins, Thomas B., History of Halifax, Publications of the Nova 
Scotia Historical Society, 1895, Vol. 8, p. 89. 



78 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

As the enactment of that year made no attempt to provide 
a permanent fund for teachers these continued to be de- 
pendent for support on pupils' fees and yearly grants by Gov- 
ernment. The latter amounted in 1777 to 440 pounds, re- 
newed by annual apiDropriations until the end of the cen- 
^^py 200 While in the beginning this sum might have been 
sufficient, it became very inadequate as settlement progressed. 
Though it seems likely that there were individuals in the 
province possessed of the requisite qualifications to make ef- 
ficient teachers, the remuneration offered was **too miserably 
insufficient" to attract them to the service. With the support 
they enjoyed from abroad, the S. P. G. schoolmasters were 
much better situated than their competitors, but at no time 
did they become numerous enough to^ equal the demand. In 
1787, their number in Nova Scotia had dwindled to five.^"^ 
Some years later we find three of them stationed at conve- 
nient points along the eastern shore of the province.^°^ A 
royal order in 1787, translating to the Governor and Bishop 
authority to grant teachers' licenses, brought the schools of 
the province more directly under local control; and it was 
not until about this time, when the Loyalists were well estab- 
lished, that education in Nova Scotia really began to progress. 



-"'Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 344, Doc. 4. 
'"Akins, Thomas B., A Sketch of the Rise and Progress, etc., pp. 
38-39. 
"-"'Ibid., p. 29. 



CHAPTER IV 

A PERIOD OF EDUCATIONAL EXPANSION 
1780—1811 

Estahlishment of the Halifax Grammar School. — As an edu- 
cational institution the Halifax private school had its limita- 
tions, A most apparent shortcoming lay in the management 
of its classes. 

For continued existence the private school was dependent 
on revenue accruing from pupils' fees alone. Every child in 
attendance was required to pay an individual fee for in- 
struction. This had the effect of limiting the activities of 
the school and confining its patronage to but a small pro- 
portion of the whole population of the town. Usually the 
tuition rates varied with the number of scholars in attend- 
ance, but generally they were beyond the means of a great 
many children. This was especially true in the case of large 
families where parents, no matter how desirous, would find it 
difficult to provide for the education of all their children 
when the instruction for each one had to be paid for individ- 
ually. On the other hand negligent parents, though they had 
the means, were not always so enthusiastic about the educa- 
tion of their children as to feel impelled to make the outlay 
necessary to send them to private schools. As a result a great 
many children were being allowed to grow up in Halifax des- 
titute of even an elementary education, to suffer those evils 
attending an insufficient educational discipline. 

Mr. Tanswell, teacher in Halifax in 1777, called attention 
to the unsatisfactory educational conditions prevailing in 
the Capital. He pointed out to the House of Assembly that 
in default of that body's taking the initiative in providing a 
capable school, ''immorality and vice were daily increasing 
among our youth, the fatal consequences of which ought to 
make every parent tremble and every well disposed person 
contribute his aid towards stemming so pernicious a tor- 
rent."^°^ He expressed the belief that ''a public school prop- 



""Pm6Hc Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 301, Doc. 18. 

79 



80 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

erly established would be the means and only means of pro- 
moting an universal decorum, learning and virtue." 

The school lands that had been reserved for educational 
purposes in the township of Halifax, unlike those in the set- 
tled portions of the outlying districts of the province, were 
allowed to remain in their original state of non-cultivation 
for many years. In 1775, Governor Legge called the attention 
of the Secretary of State to this circumstance. His commu- 
nication to the Imperial Government stated: 

There has been lands within the Town of Halifax, which 
have been set apart and promised by a former Governor for a 
Public Grammar School. His Majesty's former instructions 
ordered four hundred acres to be granted for that use, but it 
has not been carried into execution. As the inhabitants have 
many likely children to bring up who will be serviceable to 
the Public, I think such an appropriation of the public lands 
will greatly promote the Establishment of a School, and they 
may be granted out of lands in the neighborhood of the Town 
now vacant and others liable to forfeiture had I orders for so 
doing.204 

The 13th session of the 5th General Assembly, that met in 
1780, took up the consideration of these proposals. In Oc- 
tober of that year, a motion was made before the Assembly 
by Mr. Shaw ''that the House do take into consideration the 
establishing of a Public School in such part of the Province 
as shall be thought most proper."^°^ This motion led to the 
appointment of a committee consisting of Mr. Brenton, At- 
torney-General, Mr. Newton, Colonel Tonge, Mr. Cunningham, 
Mr. Shaw and Mr. Cochran to consider the feasibility of the 
recommendations. In its report, returned to the House, the 
Committee signified its approval of Mr. Shaw's resolution and 
recommended a legislative appropriation for the erection of a 
public school at Halifax with an additional allowance to pay 
the salary of a competent teacher. The bill framed by the 
committee was as follows: 

Whereas every public attention to the education of youth is 
of the utmost importance in Society, and whereas it is im- 
practicable to procure a person suflSciently qualified for that 



^"'Ibid., Vol. 44, Doc. 74. 

'""Murdoch, Beamish, op. cit., Vol. 2, p. 609. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 81 

purpose, without making handsome and liberal provision, for 
his easy support and maintenance: 

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council and As- 
sembly That a sum not exceeding fifteen hundred pounds, be 
granted for the purpose of erecting a proper and convenient 
building in the town of Halifax, for keeping a public School, 
which sum shall be raised in manner hereafter to be directed 
by the General Assembly. 

And be it also enacted. That a sum not exceeding one hun- 
dred pounds be annually granted in the estimate for the ex- 
penses of government for the support of a Schoolmaster, and 
when the number of scholars shall exceed forty, that a further 
allowance of fifty Pounds, yearly be included in the said esti- 
mate for the assistance of the said master in the support of 
an usher, which the said master shall in that case provide.^''*' 

The measure, having passed its third reading in the House 
on October 28th, was submitted to the Council on the same 
date for concurrence. It was accompanied by a bill provid- 
ing for the raising of 1,500 pounds by lottery to defray the 
cost of erecting the schoolbuilding. Clauses were also incor- 
porated in the latter making for the appropriation of one 
hundred pounds annually to pay for a principal and fifty 
pounds for an usher or assistant when the number of pupils 
in attendance exceeded fifty.'^°^ Both bills were favorably 
commented on by the Council. The only improvement that 
body advised was that the drawing of the lottery be divided 
into two parts.^°® 

The wisdom of the device of raising money for public pur- 
poses by the institution of a lottery was questionable. It was 
regarded as tending to detract the attention of government 
officials from "a spirit of industry and attention to their 
proper callings," and of providing a ready means for dishon- 
est persons to perpetrate frauds and abuses. The first in- 
stance of its being used in Nova Scotia was in 1759, when 
money was procured in that way for building a market in 
Halifax. In 17G9, Governor Campbell received instructions 



""""Laws and Statutes of Nova Scotia, 1780. 

""''Journals of the Proceedings of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, 
1780. 

'"'Ibid. 

The Minutes of the Council for this year state that the bills passed 
under the hand of the Governor on October 16. 



I 



82 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

not to give his assent to any act for raising money by public 
lottery before transmitting a draft of the measure to the 
sovereign.^"^ When, therefore, in the following year an act 
was passed by the local Legislature to raise one thousand 
pounds by lottery for building roads in the province, Governor 
Campbell, in conformity with these instructions, reserved his 
assent to the measure pending receipt of the royal directions. 
The Lords of Trade on that occasion recommended its en- 
dorsement on the grounds of expediency though they saw 
"objections to the principle."'" 

Administrator Hughes, to whom the school bill of 1780 came 
for endorsement, observed the precedent established by his 
predecessor and forwarded it to the Lords of Trade. Their 
representations secured for it the royal signature. A com- 
mittee to manage the lottery was therefore appointed by Gov- 
ernor Hammond in September of the same year. Its per- 
sonnel consisted of Henry Newton, Jonathan Binney, James 
Brenton, John Cunningham and Charles Morris, junior.^" 
Acting on the recommendation of the Council the board di- 
vided the lottery into two classes. The first class was of five 
thousand tickets at twenty shillings each for which prizes 
amounting to four thousand two hundred and fifty pounds 
were assigned. This would leave a net surplus of seven hun- 
dred and fifty pounds to be applied to the school.^^^ The sec- 
ond part was calculated to realize a like amount. 

The lottery scheme was not a success. On November 10, 
1784, Mr. Pyke, on the floor of the House, charged the lottery 
commissioners with incompetency and neglect in the conduct 
of its management. A resolution was concurred in by the 
popular body to summon the members of the commission be- 
fore its next session "to account for their conduct."^^^ 

Three years later it was revealed during the course of an 
investigation that only a trifle more than five hundred and 
fourteen pounds had so far been collected. In the face of im- 
pending failure, it was proposed that, until something more 



-"'Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 349, Dec. 19. 
-^"Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, pp. 301, 303. 
-"Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 169, Doc. 3. 
^'-Murdoch, Beamish, op. cit.. Vol. 2, p. 619. 

""Jotirnals of the Proceedings of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, 
1784; Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 223, Doc. 17. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 83 

satisfactory could be arranged, a section of the Orphan School 
should be acquired as a classroom. This idea had to be aban- 
doned for reasons stated in a letter addressed to the magis- 
trates of the town in April, 1785, by the trustees of the insti- 
tution. On inspection of the deed by which the property was 
made over to them they found its use was "strictly confined 
to the residence and habitation of orphan children, whereby 
they were wholly debarred from suffering the use of it to any 
other purpose."'^* 

Four years afterwards, however, the school was established. 
The opening session was held in the meeting room of the As- 
sembly. On the 16th of June, 1789, the Governor nominated 
the Honorable Henry Newton, who had played so important 
a part in procuring the school. Honorable Thomas Cochran, 
James Brenton, John Newton and Richard John Uniacke, 
trustees. William Cochran, of Trinity College, Dublin, late 
Professor of Classical Languages in Columbia University, 
New York, was made master and George Glennie, educated 
at the University of Aberdeen, and Thomas Brown were ap- 
pointed assistants. When, in 1790, Mr. Cochran accepted 
the position of headmaster of the Academy at Windsor, the 
vacancy in the Halifax school was filled by the appointment 
of Reverend George Wright. His salary was one hundred and 
fifty pounds per year in addition to receipts from pupils' fees. 
Mr. Wright had prior to this time taught school in the vicin- 
ity of New York, coming to Halifax, on invitation, to take 
charge of the grammar school in May, 1790. He had never 
less than forty- two pupils in attendance during the first year 
of office, and, in 1793, he reported the average attendance to 
be considerably in excess of sixty-eight.^^^ 

In 1794, when it was found necessary to enact new legisla- 
tion to provide for the salaries of the master and assistant, 
an additional impost duty of three pence per gallon on all 
light wines imported into Halifax was levied. The money 
arising from this source was to be paid into the Provincial 
Treasury for the use of the school.^^® While this part of the 



-^'Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 137, Doc. 9. 

215 Ibid., Vol. 411. Doc. 29. 

216 Laws and Statutes of Nova Scotia, 1794. 



84 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

act rendered it merely of local significance, a wider applica- 
tion was given it by a subsequent clause decreeing that a sim- 
ilar tax be laid on all spirituous liquors entering any port of 
the province, the proceeds to go into the country treasury to 
constitute a fund to help along schools. In the case of the 
Grammar School, if the amount collected in the port of Hali- 
fax was in excess of the school allotment the surplus was to 
be devoted to the support of the poor of the town; whereas 
if it fell short of meeting the grant, the deficiency was to be 
supplied from the revenue arising from permits issued to 
license houses. 

Under the direction of capable trustees, the Grammar 
School became a wholesome factor for educational improve- 
ment in the Capital. Its establishment had a subordinate 
effect on primary education generally throughout the province, 
for the legislation that brought it into existence conceived the 
idea of a public school system conducted under state super- 
vision. Along with King's College, the Grammar School was, 
for many years, the only effective school in Nova Scotia. 

The Founding of King's College. — The year prior to the 
opening of the Halifax Grammar School, an institution of 
similar educational standard was founded in King's County. 
This was Horton Academy, the original of the present Uni- 
versity of King's College. 

An agitation to establish a seminary for higher learning in 
connection with the Church of England in Nova Scotia was 
begun by the congregation of St. Paul's Church, Halifax, as 
early as 17G4. The movement was intensified by the immi- 
grations from New England. The matter was eventually 
taken up by the local Government which, in 1768, submitted 
a plan to the Lords of Trade to establish a collegiate school 
at some convenient point in the province for the purpose of 
educating a native clergy.^^^ The project met with the ap- 
proval of the Board which in turn transmitted it to the S. P. 
G. for its consideration. At the request of the latter a com- 
mittee of correspondence on the subject was appointed in 
Halifax. In 1769, the committee advised the Society that it 



217 Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, Vol. 12, pp. 
72-73. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before ISll 85 

had selected Windsor as the most promising location for the 
institution seeing that it afforded the necessary quiet and se- 
clusion for study. It also suggested that the allowance for 
S, P. G. schoolmasters in the province be withdrawn and the 
money devoted to the support of the proposed seminary.^^^ 

Active though the interest seems to have been in the pro- 
ject, it failed for well nigh a score of years to advance beyond 
the discussion stage. Official opinion meanwhile seems to 
have unanimously favored the proposal. Had the necessary 
funds been available, it is probable the foundation of the in- 
stitution would have been laid forthwith. As it was, however, 
no progress was effected until 1787, when urgent educational 
needs revived the issue. Nova Scotia being in that year 
erected into a bishopric of the Anglican Church, the corre- 
spondence committee at Halifax embraced the opportunity to 
address an appeal to the local Government in behalf of the 
institution. This document, a part of which follows, is of 
interest to us as epitomizing the state of education in Nova 
Scotia at this time: 

The Committee in Deliberating upon this subject having 
duly considered and lamented the wretched State of Litera- 
ture in this Province, and having been unavoidably led to 
contrast it w^ith the State of Literature in the Neighboring 
Kepublics, beg leave earnestly to recommend to the consid- 
eration of this House, whether it would not be proper, as soon 
as it can be found practicable, to erect a College or Univer- 
sity in this Province, to prevent as early as may be, the Youth 
of this Country (now panting after Knowledge) from rush- 
ing into the various Seminaries, already established in the 
United States of America, by which means their attachment 
to their native Country may be in Danger of being weakened, 
and principles imbued unfriendly to the British Constitu- 
tion.-^^ 

This forceful presentation of the situation awakened the 
interest of Governor Parr who recommended to the Assembly 
the advisability of establishing a public fund to provide for 
the erection and maintenance of the school.^-*' As a result, 

218 Akins, Thomas, A Sketch of the Rise and Progress, etc., p. 42. 

219 Journals of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, 1787. 

"•' Haliburton. Thomas C, An Historical and Statistical Account of 
Nova Scotia, Halifax, 1829, Vol. 1, p. 268. 



86 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

before the session closed a resolution had been adopted to es- 
tablish the academy. At the sitting of the next parliament 
in 1788 the sum of four hundred pounds was voted to hire a 
house for holding classes and to pay the salary of a teacher 
for one year. 

On the first of November, 1788, the school opened with two 
departments. In the upper department the fees were four 
pounds per year and in the English or lower department, 
three pounds.^-^ The next year, which was the same year 
that the Grammar School at Halifax began its sessions in the 
old Assembly rooms, the act of incorporation for King's was 
secured.^^^ For its support, an annual grant of four hun- 
dred pounds sterling was provided, the amount to be raised 
by duties on brown and loaf or refined sugar.-^^ In addition 
to this annual endowment, a lump sum of five hundred pounds 
was voted for the purchase of a suitable building and grounds 
for the institution. Supplemental amounts were voted from 
year to year. By 1795, three thousand pounds had been ex- 
pended on the buildings but fifteen hundred pounds more 
were required.^-^ The student enrollment was then about 
thirty. 

The College, according to intention, was established as a 
purely Church of England institution. Under the terms of 
incorporation the governors were to be members of the Es- 
tablished Church with the privilege of exercising wide dis- 
cretionary powers in the framing of ordinances and regula- 
tions for its management. 

In 1802, a royal charter of establishment was procured for 
the institution and its funds increased by an Imperial grant 
of one thousand pounds a year. A special committee drew 
up a new set of rules for the government of the college. 
Among them was the stern requirement that all prospective 
pupils subscribe to the thirty-nine articles of faith of the 
Church of England before being admitted to the university 
classes.^^^ As the communicants of the Anglican Church in 



221 Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 457. 

222 Laws and Statutes of Nova Scotia, 1789. 

223 lUd. 

224 Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 511. 

225 Allison, David, History of Nova Scotia, Halifax, A. W. Bowen 
Company, 1916, Vol. 2, p. 812. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 87 

Nova Scotia at that time did not comprise more than one 
third of the whole population of the province, this imposition 
had the effect of limiting the field of activity of the institu- 
tion and confining its usefulness to a minor though influen- 
tial section of the inhabitants. 

Lord Dalhousie, during his administration of the province, 
endeavored to break down the restrictive attitude of King's. 
He proposed that the religious test as a requirement for 
matriculation into the university be abolished or, as an al- 
ternative, that an amalgamation of educational interests be 
effected free from sectarian influences. His efforts were un- 
successful. The only alternative remaining to Dalhousie 
then was to erect an institution that would afford facilities 
for higher studies to all the people of the province irrespective 
of religious creed. 

On the 22d of May, 1820, he laid the foundation stone of 
that well known educational institution at Halifax that now 
bears his name. On that occasion, in his dedicatory speech, 
the Governor proclaimed it his purpose to provide for ''the 
education of youth in the higher classics and in all philoso- 
phical studies. Its doors," he declared, "will be open to all 
who profess the Christian religion. It is particularly in- 
tended for those who are excluded from Windsor."^'*^ 

The Loyalists. — By the time that those institutions for more 
advanced studies had been established at Halifax and Wind- 
sor, the whole educational aspect of the province had under- 
gone a marked change from what it had been a score of years 
before. The increase in the number of schools in operation 
was perhaps not large, but there was rife throughout the 
province a new taste for learning, especially in those localities 
recently settled by Loyalists from the Old Colonies. In an 
immediate and particular way the immigration of those peo- 
ple into Nova Scotia affected its social, political, and educa- 
tional life. 

The Loyalists were a race of ready-made scholars. In the 
Old Colonies they had enjoyed educational facilities far in ad- 
vance of those obtaining in Nova Scotia. Among those who 
came were lawyers, judges, clergymen, soldiers and men who 

226 Murdoch, Beamish, op. cit., Vol. 3, p. 455. 



88 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

had in one way or another attained to honors in their old 
homes. They came in such numbers — perhaps 30,000 in all, 
doubling the population of the province in a year or two — 
that, instead of modifying their tastes before the demands of 
their new surroundings, they were able to use whatever cir- 
cumstances they found themselves in and transform into their 
liking the social and civil life they found around them.^" 

Their condition on arrival was wretched. Governor Parr 
said of a band of Loyalists who arrived from St. Augustine 
in the fall of 1784, "the poorest and most distressed of all 
beings, without a shilling, almost naked, and destitute of 
every necessary of life.^"'^ But from motives of necessity and 
policy the Imperial Government dealt generously with them 
providing them with all necessaries for the first year or so of 
settlement. To promote their educational interests Governor 
Parr was instructed to reserve, in every township occupied 
by the Loyalists, one thousand acres of land inalienable for- 
ever for the maintenance of a school.--^ The Loyalists ap- 
parently did not avail themselves to any considerable extent 
of those lands which in keeping with the prevailing educa- 
tional policy of the province were designed especially for the 
use of S. P. G. teachers. In most cases the Loyalists engaged 
teachers of their own choice supporting them as best they 
could. No doubt their attitude on the school question had 
considerable influence in hastening the institution of free- 
dom in school establishment in the province. 

The Loyalists eventually made their way to almost every 
part of Nova Scotia. Many of them settled in Cumberland 
County, in the vicinity of Annapolis Royal and in Digby. 
At the beginning of 1784, 11,000 of them founded the town of 
Shelburne.'^" Here in the two parishes that made up the 
settlement the Reverend Mr. Walter and Reverend Mr. Row- 
land were elected rectors and application made the Governor 
to have them inducted in the school service and put in pos- 
session of the lands reserved for schoolmasters.-^^ In reply 



227 Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, pp. 409, 412; Public 
Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 47. 

228 Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 409. 

229 iMd.. p. 412. 

230 Ibid., p. 412. 

231 Ptiblic Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 396; Vol. 136, pp. 327-328. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 89 

the Governor stated that such appointments were reserved 
for Government but expressed his willingness to confer five 
hundred acres on these gentlemen provided they made choice 
of lands other than those already reserved for school pur- 
poses. Some time after this Mr. Walter was tendered part 
of a missionary's allowance for the district. 

It is probable that numerous private schools flourished in 
Shelburne in the days of its greatest prosperity. When 
Bishop Inglis visited the town in 1790 he found twelve schools 
there in active operation and 257 scholars in attendance. He 
computed the number of children in the town to be 770.^^^ 
Since these schools were private enterprises supported by 
pupils' fees we find no mention of their teachers in the official 
records of the province. In a copy of the Nova Scotia Packet 
and General Advertiser, printed at Shelburne in 1786, we find, 
however, the following advertisement : 

A Schoolmaster wanted in a family, to instruct four or five 
children. An elderly man, with a good character, properly 
recommended, will meet with very good encouragement.^^* 

For general educational activity Shelburne soon acquired 
a reputation surpassing that of the Capital. When, for in- 
stance, in 1785, Major Courtland, late of the Third Battalion 
of New Jersey Volunteers, wished, for the sake of his chil- 
dren, to obtain a land grant in the province in close proxim- 
ity to a school, he selected a site on the main highway in the 
vicinity of Shelburne.^'^^ 

In the Annapolis region a Loyalist of the name of Benjamin 
Snow opened a very efficient school in 1781; and in Digby, 
the Loyalists, in 1784, engaged a scholar named Foreman to 
teach their children. 

The Loyalists, because of their experience in colonial life, 
were well suited for pioneer settlement in Nova Scotia. With 
their steady application, progressiveness and intellectuality 
they were well equipped to play an important part in the 
public life of their new home. Their sons, especially in the 



232 Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1912, pp. 239-240; 1894, p. 457. 

233 2^ova Scotia Packet and General Advertiser, Shelburne, September 
7, 1786. 

234 Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 430. 



k 



90 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

next generation, became, in many instances, eminent public 
men and have ranged themselves among the real founders of 
the province. The elevated character of the educational spirit 
of the province during the first half of the nineteenth century 
was, in no small measure, due to Loyalist influence. 

Early Education in Pictou Comity. — While the Loyalists 
were settling the western part of Nova Scotia the undeveloped 
sections of the east bordering on the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
were being peopled by a steady influx of immigrants from 
Scotland. The first arrivals were, denominationally, Presby- 
terians of the Established Church of Scotland. Later a con- 
siderable number of Scotch Catholics took up lands in the 
same district and vicinity. 

Educationally, these people were inferior to the New Eng- 
land Loyalists. Of the scholastic abilities of the early Scotch 
settlers of Pictou, Dr. Patterson writes thus : 

The most of the Highlanders were very ignorant. Very 
few of them could read, and books were unknown among them. 
The Dumfries settlers were much more intelligent in religion 
and everything else. They had brought with them a few relig- 
ious books from Scotland, some of which were lost in Prince 
Edward Island, but the rest were carefully read. In the year 
1779, John Patterson brought out a supply of books from 
Scotland . . . among which was a plentiful supply of the New 
England Primer, which was distributed among the young, and 
the contents of which was soon learned. Of teachers, I have 
not found the names of any after James Davidson left, about 
the year 1776."^' 

Of the later Scotch immigrants, Dr. McGregor writes : 

It was with no little discouragement to me that I saw 
scarcely any books among the people. Those who spoke Eng- 
lish had indeed a few, which they had brought with them 
from their former abodes; but scarcely one of them had got 
any addition to his stock since. Almost all of them had a 
Bible, and it was to be seen with some of the Highlanders 
who could not read. Few of them indeed could read a word. 
There was no school in the place. Squire Patterson had built 
a small house and hired a teacher for a few months now and 
then for his own children. In three, or perhaps four, other 
places three or four of the nearest neighbors had united and 
hired a teacher for a few months at different times, and this 



23B Patterson, Reverend George, op. cit., pp. 111-112. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 91 

was a great exertion. What was more discouraging, I could 
not see a situation in Pictou where a school could be main- 
tained for a year, so thin and scattered was the population. 
Besides many of the Highlanders were perfectly indifferent 
about education.^^^ 

Dr. McGregor arrived in Pictou in 1786, the same year that 
this section of the province was separated from Halifax 
County and erected into an independent district.^" He was 
a man of great intellectual power and a writer of some dis- 
tinction. It is said of him that he was so concerned about the 
education of his fellow countrymen that when parents pre- 
sented their children for baptism he was accustomed to draw 
from them a solemn declaration that they would make a faith- 
ful effort to see that their offspring secured an education. 
The earnest desire of the Highlanders for religious instruction 
he found to be of invaluable assistance in cultivating their 
interest in the education of their children; and he subse- 
quently stated that he found them to be more easily impressed 
with this need than he had at first anticipated. Their chil- 
dren in their rude schools showed great aptitude for learning. 

Before the Scotch arrived in force, a school, as Patterson 
observes, was established at Lyons Brook, in the Pictou dis- 
trict, by James Davidson, a refugee from New England, in 
1776. It is noteworthy as being perhaps the first Sunday 
school to be opened in Nova Scotia. Another was begun by 
the Keverend Mr, Breynton at Halifax in 1783 in which needy 
children were clothed and otherwise provided for by sub- 
scriptions raised by the congregation of St. Paul's Parish."* 

In 1785, when it was proposed to settle a number of ex-sol- 
diers in the neighborhood of Pictou, a town site was laid out 
and a plot reserved for a school. But as the project failed 
to mature no school appeared. In 1793, Peter Grant, who 
had been educated in the Grammar School at Halifax, was 
licensed to keep a school in Pictou. The settlement had then 
been selected as the seat of government for the district. Grant 
was succeeded, in 1802, by S. L. Newcomb who after a short 
time was replaced by Glennie who had also been licensed to 
teach in the district. 



23GiMd.. pp. 140-141. 

237 Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 223, Doc. 102. 

238 Akins, Thomas B., History of Halifax, p. 71. 



92 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

A notable figure in the later educational life of Pictou 
County was Dr. McCulloch. While Dr. McGregor had di- 
rected his efforts mainly towards the improvement of educa- 
tion generally among the Scotch of Pictou, Dr. McCulloch 
was, in a particular way, attentive to their needs for advanced 
education. He came from Scotland in 1803 and almost imme- 
diately began an agitation to secure the establishment of an 
institution for higher learning in Pictou such as would ex- 
tend to his co-religionists educational facilities comparable 
to that accessible to members of the Established Church in 
Nova Scotia. His efforts did not bear fruit until 1816 when 
he succeeded in securing the privilege of establishing an acad- 
emy on condition that it would be entirely self-supporting. 
When financial difficulties threatened the continuation of the 
institution after a few years, legislative appropriations were 
made for its assistance but these were eventually discontinued. 
For this reason Pictou Academy failed to rise above the status 
of a secondary educational institution and, contrary to Dr. 
McCulloch's original intention, never attained the dignity of 
a degree-conferring institution. In the meantime the district 
had been enjoying the benefits of grammar schools. 

Halifax Private Schools. — The school legislation of 1780 and 
the opening of the Grammar School did not interfere directly 
with the free exercise of the private schools of the Capital. 

In 1805, Mr. Mezagneau gave notice through the Halifax 
press that he was about to open a school to teach French in 
the evenings.^^'' Next year, another school was started in 
Halifax by Michael Green, late assistant in the Grammar 
School.^*" 

The Germans of Halifax had Mr. Honseal to teach the Ger- 
man congregation of St. George's in 1785.-*^ On February 
28, 1805, the following advertisement appeared in the Nova 
Scotia Royal Gazette: 

Wanted to superintend a school in Dutch Town, a young 
man capable of teaching reading, writing, arithmetics*^ 



239 The Nova Scotia Royal Gazette, October 10, 1805. 
240 /bid., November 18, 1806. 

241 Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 137. 

242 The Nova Scotia Royal Gazette, February 28, 1805. 



J 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 1)3 

Music schools began to appear in Halifax towards the be- 
ginning of the nineteenth century. In 1801, Mr. Dorwal, 
from London, solicited classes in music, French and dancing; 
and in 1805, G. B. Fillman informed the Halifax public that 
he was opening a school "to teach music in all its variety."^*^ 

The following notice of a school for the education of young 
ladies was given in the issue of the Nova Scotia Gazette for 
April 23, 1801: 

Female Education 

James Bowen, Schoolmaster, at the next corner house, to 
the westward of Mr, Noonan's (Sign of the Bunch of Grapes) 
respectfully acquaints the public that he has commenced the 
Tuition of Young Ladies in Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and 
Accompts, from the hours of 12 'till 2 (the useful days of at- 
tendance) and having engaged a Person every way qualified 
to assist him in the duties of the School, flatters himself by 
their united exertions and assiduity of giving satisfaction to 
the Parents who are pleased to intrust him with the Education 
of their Children. 

In this same year, Daniel Hammil was licensed to keep 
school in Halifax ; and, in 1803, Joseph Hawkins was appointed 
S. P. G. teacher for the city. The name of Michael Forrestal 
also appears on the list of teachers in Halifax in 1805.^^* His 
school was called an English Academy. We reproduce his 
notice of its opening, printed in the Nova Scotia Gazette on 
June 6, 1805: 

English Academy 

By permission of his Excellency, Sir John Wentworth, 
Baronet, & the subscriber respectfully informs the pub- 
lic, he will open an English Academy, in Halifax, on Monday 
the 23rd, June next, for the instruction of youth in the fol- 
lowing branches of Education viz; 

Reading, Writing, English, Grammar, Arithmetic, Book- 
keeping, Geography, with the use of the Globes ; Geometry, 
Trigonometry, Surveying on a modern and highly improved 
plan; Navigation, Gnomonics, Natural Philosophy, Astron- 
omy, Elocution, Composition, & 

Public Examinations will be held half-yearly. 



2*3 Ibid., May 2, 1805; 1801. 

244 Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 172. 



94 Education in Nova Scotia Before ISll 

Mr. Bowen, in 1806, moved his school to a new situation on 
Hollis Street. Giving notice of his new location he says : 

Conscious that no exertions of his has been wanting* to 
facilitate the improvement of pupils committed to his care 
these Fourteen years he has followed that vocation, and re- 
flects with pleasure, on the great number of young Gentlemen, 
he has qualified for the Compting House, and other respectable 
Situations, now in Halifax and elsewhere. Likewise the many 
adult Persons, he has also qualified to be, and are Masters, 
and Mates of Vessels, &. His faculties from much practice 
and study, are rather improved, (but by no means impaired) 
and therefore begs leave, with the most profound respect to 
solicit a continuance of the Patronage he has so liberally ex- 
perienced from a very respectable number of the inhabitants 
of Halifax.^*^ 

There were in later years several schools for young women 
in the town. Miss Wenman kept a school for small children 
in Granville Street which was burned out by the fire of 1817. 
Mrs. Henry and Mrs. McCage were teaching young ladies in 
Barrington Street about the same time.^*" 

General Educational Situation ThrougJiout JVova Scotia. — 
As indicated by the report of the correspondence committee 
on King's College in 1787, the sparsely settled districts of the 
province were enjoying meager educational facilities at that 
time. A contributor to the Nova Scotia Magazine, in 1780, 
asserted that education in the province had just begun,^*^ and 
Bishop Inglis affirms that when he came to Nova Scotia, in 
1787, there was not a good grammar school in the whole coun- 
try and only one finished church — St. Paul's in Halifax. ^*^ In 
those districts, however, where an active interest was shown 
in schools, teachers were located by government license from 
time to time. 

At Cornwallis, in King's County, Cornelius Fox became 
schoolmaster in 1782.-*^ As S. P. G. representative he was 



245 The Nova Scotia Royal Gazette, October 7, 1806. 

246 Akins, Thomas B., History of Halifax, pp. 183-184. 

247 The Nova Scotia Magazine, Vol. 1, 1789, p. 86. 

248 Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1912, p. 249. 
zi9 Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 136, p. 296. 

Eaton's statement, that Fox was teaching at Cornwallis in 1772-1773, 
is evidently erroneous. See Eaton, Arthur, W. H., The History of Kings 
County, Nova Scotia, Salem, Mass., 1910, p. 335. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 95 

entitled to the use of the school lands but due to disagree- 
ment among the proprietors he was restrained from occupy- 
ing them until 1789.-'" Settlement was finally effected by Mr. 
Fox assuming to teach twelve children gratis and reducing 
the fees of others from fifty-two to forty shillings per year. 
Mr. Fox was the first teacher in the township and the first 
also in the present county of Kings.-'^^ He taught at Corn- 
wallis until 1798, when he retired to Cape Breton to become 
teacher at Sydney. His school at Cornwallis was renewed 
the next year by Matthew McLaughlin and Matthew Fisher, 
who were joined soon afterwards by Patrick Inery.^'^ They 
came probably in response to the following advertisement ap- 
pearing in the Halifax Weekly Chronicle on several occasions 
from April to June, 1799: 

Any person capable of teaching reading, writing and arith- 
metic, with propriety, who can produce a good recommenda- 
tion for sobriety and steadiness of conduct and to whom a 
residence in the country would be agreeable, will be informed 
of an eligible situation by applying to Messrs. Charles and 
Samuel Prescott in Halifax or to Joseph Prescott, Esq., or 
Timothy Eaton, Merchant Cornwallis. -'^^ 

Application for a teacher was made by forty-four Loyalists 
of Clements township in 1788. A certain Mr. Casey, who 
conducted a private school in the settlement, seems to have 
been inducted into the service soon afterwards, for we find 
him established as teacher there in 1791.^'* 

In 1790, following a visit to the western districts of the 
province, Bishop Inglis recommended the appointment of a 
teacher for the settlers at Aylesford. Early in the next year 
the proprietors secured the services of a Mr. Reynolds as 
clerk and schoolmaster.^^'* Another schoolmaster who taught 
in the Aylesford district before the end of the century was 
Mr. Tupper. He resigned his charge in 1797.-^'^ 

The first missionary to Rawden-Douglas was Benjamin 
Gray. He was appointed in 1796 with an assigned salary of 



250 Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1912, p. 233. 
"' Eaton, Arthur W. H., op. cit.. p. 335. 
2^2 Public Records of Kova Scotia, Vol. 172. 
253 Eaton, Arthur, W. H., op. cit.. pp. 335-336. 

25i Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1912, p. 224; 1913, p. 252. 
255 iMd., 1912, p. 240; 1913, p. 252. 
25GlMd., 1912, p. 240. 



96 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

seventy-five pounds a year, the money to be paid ''out of the 
provision made by Government for the support of missions in 
the province."^" 

At Onslow, Patrick Ryan, by license of the Governor and 
approval of the Bishop, was allowed to occupy the school 
lands in 1802. His seems to have been the first appointment 
to the township. In this year, too, George Dill was sent to 
teach the children of Truro township in the present county 
of Colchester. He was accorded the privilege of cultivating 
for his own use the five hundred acres reserved there for a 
schoolmaster. 

As regards the earliest schools in the Loyalist colony of 
Yarmouth, Lawson, in Yarmouth Past and Present, writes: 
"The first school house of which any trace can be found was 
situated in the northeast corner of the old Episcopal church- 
yard on Butler's Hill, which was also used as a court house 
from 1790 till the year 1805 . . .""s 

We find in the Governor's Commission Book record of six 
persons licensed to teach in Yarmouth in 1785. They were 
Samuel S. Poole, Miner Huntington, Andrew Butler, John 
Prout, Robert Black and Reverend Harris Harding. A con- 
siderable colony of Loyalists was at this time settled in the 
township."^ 

Mention has already been made of Benjamin Snow's school 
at Annapolis in 1781. Snow was a graduate of Dartmouth 
College, New Hampshire. He conducted his school for two 
years, being succeeded in 1783 by John McNamara, also a 
Loyalist. McNamara had charge of the school until his death 
in 1798, being in receipt of the usual subsidy from the 
S. P. G.260 

James Foreman (or Forman), who came to Annapolis with 
the refugees of 1781, soon moved to Digby where he opened 
the school already noticed. According to Wilson, he was 
preceded by a teacher named William Barbanks, who taught 



267 Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 172. 

2S8 Lawson, J. Murray, Yarmouth Past and Present, Yarmouth, 
1902, p. 545. 

"'Brown, George S., op. cit., p. 351. 

260 Calnek, W. A., History of the County of Annapolis, Toronto, 1897, 
p. l-TS. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 97 

in several hamlets in the county before the close of the cen- 
tury.^*^^ Foreman began his school at Digby in 1784 with an 
enrollment of seventy-five pupils. It lasted but eight months, 
the teacher turning his attention to the institution of a Sun- 
day school of the Church of England. This venture has won 
for Foreman more celebrity than did his secular school. It 
is regarded by some writers as the first Sunday school on the 
continent of America, though others give precedence to the 
institution started by Davidson at Lyons Brook, in Pictou 
County, in 1776.^*^^ Foreman's school gave impetus to the 
establishment of such institutions in the province, two being 
started in Halifax by Bishop Inglis in 1788. One of these, 
for boys, was directed by a Mr. Tidmarsh ; the other, for girls, 
by Mrs. Clarke.^*^^ 

With the promise of assistance from the S. P. G., Mr. Fore- 
man renewed his secular school in a new location in Digby 
town in 1789.^*^* Bishop Inglis paid him a visit in 1791 and 
found forty scholars attending the school. Foreman even- 
tually returned to England. 

In addition to Foreman's school at Digby, others are re- 
puted to have existed in the township before 1800. One was 
erected at Westport in 1789, and another was located at 
Sandy Cove. A new school was started at Little Eiver, in 
1805, by William Gay, an Englishman.^*^^ 

Cumberland County, settled by New Englanders, was for a 
long time without either minister or schoolmaster. The first 
permanent clergyman in this district was a Mr. Eagleson ; the 
first schoolmaster, John Dunn, who was engaged by the in- 
habitants of Amherst in 1788.-*'^ Through the recommenda- 
tion of Bishop Inglis, an oflScial license was secured for him 
next year. Similar appointments were made about the same 
time for Hopewell and Parrsborough. 

The Loyalists settled at Campbellton, near Sheet Harbor, 
asked for a teacher in 1788. The petition, signed by fifty- 



261 Wilson, Isaiah W., A Geography and History of the County of 
Digby, Nova Scotia, Halifax, N. S.. 1900, p. 92. 

262 Calnek, W. A., oj). cit., pp. 297-298. 

263 Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1913, p. 233. 

264 76i(Z., 1912, p. 233; 1913, p. 252. 
'"■'Wilson, Isaiah W., op. cit., pp. 92-94. 
"'^Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1912, p. 243. 



98 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

three persons, stated that there were fifty-one children in the 
township. They got their first teacher in 1789, Mr. William 
Sutherland, who conducted a school of seventeen pupils 
throughout that year. He was replaced in 1790 by Thomas 
Cook. 

In 1792, Patrick Patton was appointed S. P. G. teacher for 
Guysborough, and, in the Ship Harbor district, Charles Tay- 
lor and Michael Kussell were given certificates to teach in 
1804. G. F. Belvidere procu^red a license to teach writing and 
arithmetic in Lunenburg in 1796, and in the vicinity of Ches- 
ter a man by the name of Hawbolt taught school about 
1810.2" 

Internal Administration and Management of Schools. — In 
illustration of the internal management of our early schools, 
the character of the schoolmaster, and the matter he taught, 
we insert a few items taken from the records as being rather 
typical. The first is a letter written by Mr. Fullerton, teacher 
at Horton in 1790, to the trustees of the school. It shows 
how teachers collected their fees from pupils. 

In order to accomplish in the most liberal manner the pa- 
ternal designs of His Majesty in reserving the school lands 
and to render my settlement as acceptable as possible to the 
inhabitants of Horton, I am very willing to educate five Chil- 
dren without charge as shall be recommended to me for that 
purpose. This proportion is considerably greater than that 
fixed for the School-Master at Cornwallis. The lands in that 
town rent for £25 or 30, while those of Horton are leased £10 
or 12. Yet to extend the benefits of tuition as much as possi- 
ble I will cheerfully undertake the Superintendence of half 
the number assigned to that incumbent. 

From the same motive, I likewise resolve to reduce the fees 
of tuition from £3 per annum to £2 15s whenever the inhabi- 
tants shall supply a school-room and supply it with fuel. 

These conditions are the most moderate that can be ottered 
in the present circumstance of the country. I have presumed 
to state them on paper that the people at large may know pre- 
cisely the ground on which I stand; and that every possibility 
of a future misunderstanding may be precluded. 

N. B. If the number of Scholars that pay exceed twenty 
the tuition shall be £2 lOs.^^^^ 



^Ubid., pp. 224, 233, 238, 242, 245. 

-"Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 224, Doc. 49. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 99 

The following narrative suggests the ordinary conditions 
under which the pioneer schoolmaster in Nova Scotia lived. 

You are aware that the teachers at the present day are 
more cared for than teachers formerly. I have in some sec- 
tions had for food, in poor families where I boarded, nothing 
but Indian meal, without milk or sweetening. In other 
families, fish and potatoes, and mangel tops for my dinner; 
slept on hay and straw beds on the floor, where mice, fleas and 
bugs could be felt all hours of the night. I have frequently 
found one, two and three mice crushed to death lying under 
me — the straw not even put in a sack, and my covering old 
clothing. I sufl'ered all this, so great was my wish to give in- 
struction to the poor and rising generation. Yea, many fam- 
ilies of poor children have I educated and never received one 
farthing.2''^ 

An old German resident of Lunenburg tells us how he was 
taught about 1800: 

In those days we had German schools. It was my hurt 
going to them ; I should have had English. The schoolmaster 
was one Draver, from Germany. He spoke only German. He 
kept school in my grandfather Conrad's house, and had about 
forty scholars. We went early in the morning and left at 
five o'clock. The master was very strict, and would not allow 
any noise. The Bible was read every day. I can read it in 
English. I learned it from my children. All the preaching 
used to be in German; there is very little of it now (1878). 
The old settlers brought their large family Bibles from Ger- 
many. My father could read well in German.-^'' 

A writer in the Acadian Magazine for July, 1826, describes 
"A Schoolmaster of the Old Leaven" — his character, appear- 
ance and pedagogical equipment as follows: 

The good old race of flogging schoolmasters, who restrained 
the passions by giving vent to them, and took care to maintain 
a proper quality of fear and tyranny in the world, are now 
perhaps extinct. 

I knew a master of the old school, who flourished (no man 
a better rod) about thirty years back. I used to wish I was a 
fairy that I might have the handling of his cheeks and wig. 

He was a short, thick set man about sixty, with an aquiline 
nose, a long connex upper lip, sharp mouth, little cruel eyes, 
and a pair of hands enough to make your cheeks tingle to look 

=='»DesBrisay, Mather B., op. cit., p. 401. 
''"Ibid., p. 363. 



100 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

at them. I remember his short coat sleeves, and the way in 
which his hands used to hang out of his little tight waist- 
bands, ready for execution. Hard little fists they were, yet 
no harder than his great cheeks. He was a clergyman, and 
his favorite exclamation (which did not appear profane to us 
but only tremendous) was "God's my life." Whenever he 
said this, turning upon you and opening his eyes like a fish, 
you expected (and with good reason) to find one of his hands 
taking you with a pinch of the flesh under the chin, while with 
the other he treated your cheek as if it had been no better than 
a piece of deal. 

I am persuaded there was some affinity between him and 
the deal. He had a side pocket, in which he carried a car- 
penter's rule (I don't know who his father was), and he was 
fond of meddling with carpenters' work. The line and rule 
prevailed in his mode of teaching. I think I see him now 
seated under a deal board canopy, behind a lofty wooden 
desk, his wooden chair raised upon a dais of wooden steps and 
two large wooden shutters or slides projecting from the wall 
or other side to secure him from the wind. He introduced 
among us an acquaintance with manufactures. Having a 
tight little leg (for there was a horrible succinctness about 
him, though in the priestly part he tended to be corpulent), 
he was accustomed, very artfully, whenever he came to a pass- 
age in his lectures concerning pigs of iron, to cross one of his 
calves over his knee, and inform us that the pig was about the 
thickness of that leg. Upon which, like slaves as we were, all 
looked inquisitively at his leg; as if it had not served for the 
illustration a hundred times. 

Though serious in ordinary and given to wrath, he was 
"cruel fond" of a joke. I remember particularly his delight- 
ing to shew us how funny Terence was (which is what we 
should never have found out) ; and how he used to tickle our 
eyes with the words, "Chremis' Daater." 

He had no more relish of the joke or the poetry than we 
had; but Terence was a school book and was ranked among 
the comic writers ; and it was his business to carry on estab- 
lished opinions and an authorized facetiousness. 

When he flogged, he used to pause and lecture between the 
blows, that the instruction might sink in. We became so 
critical and sensitive about everything that concerned him, 
watching his very dress like the aspects of the stars, that we 
used to identify particular moods of his mind with particular 
wigs.^''^ 

This description evidently written in a humorous spirit, is 



"'The Acadian Magazine, Halifax, N. S., July 1826, Vol. 1, No. 1, p. 168. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 101 

nevertheless suggestive of the manner in which our early- 
schools were managed and the kind of teaching that prevailed 
about the beginning of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless 
those quaint teachers graduated from their schools spirits of 
force and determination whom we admire today as the found- 
ers of our country and its institutions. 

Catholic Education. — On account of the proscriptive char- 
acter of the school law of 1766, Catholics in Nova Scotia were 
for many years deprived of the benefits of education. Among 
the French people still in the country its effects were particu- 
larly disastrous. Their priests, who might at least teach 
them the catechism of their church and at the same time ac- 
quaint them with a few items of secular knowledge, were al- 
lowed to visit them only under the most particular super- 
vision.^^^ In the peninsula alone the French numbered ap- 
proximately 2,600 in 1764.2" In rare cases, as, for instance, 
at Lunenburg where they mingled to some extent with the 
Calvinists, they acceded to the promptings of Government and 
sent their children to the English schools. As a rule, how- 
ever, they were sceptical of the English schools and looked 
upon them more or less as a menace to their faith. 

The disabilities imposed on Catholics by various regulations 
were considerably ameliorated in the years following 1780. 
A measure passed by the Local Legislature in 1786 repealed 
the sections of the school law of 1766 exposing Catholics to 
liability of fine and imprisonment for venturing to set up a 
school. In substitution for the revoked clauses, the injunc- 
tion was attached that nothing in the current act was to be 
construed '*to extend to the permitting any popish person, 
priest or schoolmaster taking upon themselves the education 
or government or boarding youth, within this Province, to 
admit into their schools any youth under age of fourteen 
years, who shall have been brought up and educated in the 
Protestant religion.""* The measure aftorded great relief, 
instituting, in fact, Catholic educational emancipation in the 
province. 

During the early part of the nineteenth century, the French 



""Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 222, Doc. 91. 
-'"Haliburton, Thomas C op. cit.. Vol. 1, p. 275. 
"*Laivs and Statutes of Nova Scotia, 1786, Sec. 3. 



102 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

inhabitants of the district of Clare, in the western part of 
Nova Scotia, had some educational advantages placed within 
their reach through the efforts of their pastor, Father Sigogne. 
He came to them from France as successor to Father Bourg 
in 1799. 

From the moment of his arrival. Father Sigogne worked 
strenuously to procure a systematic education for the French 
children of his parishes. To give practical encouragement to 
parents he appointed persons to act as catechists and to teach 
reading and writing under his supervision. When he could 
get no teachers he enlisted the assistance of mothers of fami- 
lies as school mistresses. In the presbytery of his church he 
opened a sort of monastic school, where he received boys and 
girls as resident pupils. 

To provide instruction for the older people, whose ignor- 
ance he deplored, Father Sigogne later opened a Sunday 
school in the church. Arrangements were made with the 
schoolmaster and three hours' instruction in the catechism 
and method of reading and writing were given every Sun- 
day."= 

In the parish of St. Peter's, Halifax, the English speaking 
Catholics, unable to educate their children because of the im- 
poverished condition of the parishoners, took advantage of 
the concessions of 1786 to request the legislature to grant 
them permission to open a school under the supervision of 
their clergy wherein their children would be taught gratis. 
Their prayer was complied with and the school established.^^^ 

In March, 1802, the Reverend Edmund Burke, Vicar-General 
for the diocese, petitioned the Assembly praying the incor- 
poration, for educational purposes, of the Bishop of Quebec, 
his Coadjutor, Vicar-General at Halifax and the superior of 
the seminary of Ste. Sulpice at Montreal and their successors 
to enable them to receive donations for the purpose of erect- 
ing a Catholic seminary at Halifax. Father Burke subse- 
quently modified his plan to meet the more pressing need of 
an institution for the charitable education of Catholic youth 



"■^Dagnaud, Pere P. M., Les Francais du Sud-Ouest de la Nouvelle 
iScosse, Valence, 1905, p. 165; Pringle, A. L., The Home of Evangeline, 
London, p. 232. 

"^Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 301, Doc. 83. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 103 

of the Capital. His action was steruly opposed by Governor 
Wentworth, who wrote the Lords of Trade that the Catholics 
of the province were numerous "and increasing both in num- 
bers and zealous activity."^" He also notified Father Burke 
"that no School or Seminary of Education could be exercised 
in this Province, but such as were conformable to the laws of 
England, and of this Province confirmed by His Majesty.''^'^ 
Father Burke, nevertheless, persevered in his work establish- 
ing the first institution for the education of Catholic youth in 
Halifax. 

Indian Education. — During the period of French ownership 
of Nova Scotia, the Indians of the maritime regions of Canada 
were brought within the fold of the Catholic church by the 
mission work of French priests. They entertained, there- 
after, a most remarkable attachment for these early mission- 
aries and when, after the conquest, these were replaced by 
ministers of the Church of England, the Indians were found 
to be altogether insusceptible to the teachings of a new creed. 
This was so much the case that the government found it ex- 
pec lent to invite French priests from Quebec to continue 
their work among the tribes of the maritime provinces. For 
this purpose. Father Maillard was allowed a yearly gratuity 
of one hundred pounds and his successor half that amount."® 
Father Maillard was very energetic in his efforts to improve 
the education of the Indian, translating and writing, as we 
have observed, a catechism in the Indian dialect and an In- 
dian grammar and dictionary. The Anglican clergyman, Mr. 
Wood, did work of a similar kind during his residence in the 
western districts of the province. It is recorded that, in 17G9, 
at a service in St. Paul's Church, a large assemblage of In- 
dians sang an anthem before and after service.-^" 

Later, towards the close of the century, an effort was made 
to teach the Indian men husbandry and the women the arts 
of domestic life. In 1792, a bounty of ten pounds sterling and 
twenty acres of land free of quit rent for twenty years was 
offered any British subject intermarrying with the Indians; 
and, in 1801, the provincial government began to consider the 



UMd., Vol. 53, Doc. 105. 

'Ihid. 

'Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 320. 

"Akins, Thomas B., A Sketch of the Rise and Progress, etc., pp. 21, 22. 



104 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

feasibility of offering small premiums to land proprietors as 
an inducement to take Indian children into their families for 
the purpose of giving them a vocational training.^^^ About 
this time also a British society offered a comi3ensation to any 
person who should assume the guardianship of a child of In- 
dian parentage and provide for his education and his in- 
duction into the habits of domestic life.^^- It was not, how- 
ever, until near the middle of the last century that statutory 
provisions began to be made for the formal education of In- 
dian children. 

Negro Education. — The negro population of Nova Scotia 
are, for the most part, descended from slaves escaped from 
the colonies and from negro servants who followed the Loyal- 
ists into the province. At an early date they established 
themselves in settlements in various parts of the country. 
There were in the peninsula, in 1784, approximately 1,232 
negro servants and, in 1791, 422 were living in the Capital, '^^ 
We find the following entry in the Governor's Commission 
Book for May 1, 1788 : 

License of the Usual Tenor Signed by His Excellency the 
Lieut. Governor, authorizing Limerick Isaac to Keep a School 
at Halifax for teaching Reading and Writing of English to 
the Black people also to Read the Prayers to them he appear- 
ing qualified. This license to continue during good behavior.-** 

The negroes at Tracadie, numbering about seventy-five fam- 
ilies, were particularly distinguished for their industr3^ 
Early in their settlement, they engaged one of their number, 
Demsy Jordan, to act as catechist and reader. Jordan's ap- 
pointment secured the approval of Bishop Inglis who, along 
with other encouragement, conferred on him a tract of land. 
He resigned, however, at the end of a year and was succeeded 
by ThomaiS Brownspriggs. Wlien Brownspriggs abandoned 
the station, in 1792, he had a school of twenty-three negro chil- 

^Jpgjj 285 

Another considerable settlement of negroes at Birchdale 
near Shelburne had a school established in 1790 in which Col- 



'''Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 348, Doc. 3; Vol. 430, Doc. 48;/,. 
="Moorsom, Captain W., Letters from Nova Scotia Comprising 
Sketches of a Young Country, London, 1830, p. 116. 
-^''Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 412. 
'^*Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 170. 
'^'Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1912, p. 245. 



I 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 105 

onel Bluck taught. It had an attendance of forty-four black 
children. ^®^ In the same neighborhood, James Leonard was 
teacher to the blacks the following year. The negroes of that 
place were very poor, and therefore their schools did not 
thrive. 

Toward the end of the century the black population of the 
province was considerably increased by the arrival of the 
Maroons from Jamaica. A large body of them settled near 
Preston. They were apparently a good body of men, repre- 
senting to Governor Wentworth their desire of being in- 
structed in the Christian religion and of having their children 
taught reading and writing. The Governor, therefore, in 1796, 
appointed the Eeverend Benjamin Green their missionary and 
enlisted the services of Mr. Chamberlain as teacher. Mr. 
Chamberlain, originally a New Englander, had formerly been 
a teacher to the Indians and seemed otherwise to possess suit- 
able qualifications for the work.-^^ 

The Maroons showed a marked interest in learning, the 
Governor reporting in 1797 that the Maroon children were 
"constantly at School learning to read and write with de- 
cency and diligence."-^® He expressed the hope that the S. P. 
G. would extend some assistance to the missionary and 
teacher. Writing to the Society soon afterwards, he stated 
that nineteen of the Maroon boys attending school at Boyd- 
ville were examined publicly in the church on Easter Sunday 
and "repeated the Catechism, Creed, Lord's Praj^er, and Com- 
mandments with admirable precision, and read all the lessons 
and Responses during the service very correctly."-^^ In time, 
however, the Maroons lost the spirit of industry and became a 
burden on the public. The climate seems to have been too 
rigorous for them to withstand. Accordingly, following the 
decision of the government, they were deported from the 
province as undesirable colonists. 

The disposal of those people is indicative of changes in the 
direction of a definite administrative policy for Nova Scotia 
developed in the closing years of the eighteenth century. Edu- 
cationally, the most important achievement of this period was 



''"Ibid., p. 239. 

^^'Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 51. 

*<''Ibid., Vol. 52. 

^''Pascoe, C. F., op. cit., p. 117. 



106 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

the establishment of the Grammar School at Halifax and 
King's College at Windsor. The founding of these institu- 
tions proclaimed the dawn of higher education for Nova Sco- 
tia. Apart from the educational advantages they afforded the 
privileged few who were in a position to frequent their class- 
rooms, they served to stimulate educational thought all over 
the province leading to the enactment of the school law of 
1811, providing for the establishment of several institutions 
similar to the Halifax school and ultimately to the founding 
of Pictou Academy and Dalhousie University. 

For this revitalizing of the educational life of the i^rovince 
the Loyalists deserve no small share of credit. In different 
parts of the province refugees of scholarly tastes were agitat- 
ing for public schools ; and in the Pictou district Dr. McGregor 
was sowing the seed of an interest and taste for learning. All 
this had the effect of creating a broader and more lively in- 
terest in school establishment which served to extend the 
circle of educational outlook beyond the Capital. 

The possibility of forming a general system of education for 
Nova Scotia was claiming serious attention as early as 1788. 
Bishop Inglis discusses the topic in correspondence of that 
date, his views bearing the support of Governor Dorchester.^^" 
The Bishop saw the need of a uniform system of schools for, 
writing in 1800^ he laments the unsupervised nature of school- 
teaching in the province where, he avers, "swarms of teachers 
who are ignorant and fanatical . . . infest every district."^^^ 

By this time, a gradual amelioration of the penal laws had 
relieved Catholics considerably from the severity of those 
measures which militated so iniquitously against the founda- 
tion of Catholic schools. Throughout the province generally 
there was manifest a more tolerant attitude towards educa- 
tion for all denominations that prophesied well for future 
school development. Female school-teachers also began to be 
considered before the end of the century. The first record we 
have of such an appointment being made is dated 1803 when 
a Miss Bailey was recommended for the position of school- 
mistress at Annapolis.^^^ 



""^Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1912, p. 222. 
""lUd., p. 284. 
'"UMd., pp. 260, 264. 



CHAPTER V 

EDUCATION IN CAPE BRETON 

The educational history of Cape Breton is closely associated 
with that of the mainland of Nova Scotia. On acquisition of 
the island colony by Great Britain in 1763, it became estab- 
lished as a political appendage to the peninsula and so re- 
mained until 1784, when it was erected into a separate 
province and a council, under the supervision of the Governor 
of Nova Scotia, appointed to administer its affairs. With 
the abolishment of this relationship for a union of the two 
governments, in 1820, the school activities of both divisions 
were combined to form one integral educational system. Be- 
fore this event little of outstanding importance had been done 
to advance learning in the island. 

As it was the policy of the Board of Trade to reserve the 
whole of Cape Breton as a supply station for H. M. Navy and 
for kindred purposes, no freehold titles to land were granted 
in the island before 1784. Consequently, during those years 
its population remained stationary. In 1766, the inhabitants 
numbered about one thousand, five hundred of whom were at 
Louisbourg and the remainder, chiefly French, squatters in 
diverse parts of the colony.^^^ Writing in 1774, Governor 
Legge stated that he could not find any new improvements in 
Cape Breton above what had been done by the French at an 
earlier date.^^* 

At Louisbourg, the Reverend Mr. Kneeland, chaplain to the 
59th Regiment, reported to the S. P. G. in 1766, there were 
one hundred and twenty children under fourteen years of age. 
He earnestly enjoined the Society that it make an effort to 
provide the settlement with a suitable teacher.^^s 

The commander of the garrison stated later that had it not 
been for the charity this gentleman exhibited "in sharing his 
small salary with the many indigent people of the town in 
the winter season together with maintaining their children 

^meports~on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 269. 
^<>*Pumic Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 44, Doc. 57. 
^"■Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 269. 

107 



108 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

at school" they would have been destitute of all civil and 
spiritual assistance. This Mr. Kneeland did without any fee 
or reward from the inhabitants.^^** Franklin advised in 1768 
that land for the maintenance of a school be reserved near 
the settlement.^*^^ Acting partly on this suggestion, the com- 
mander, in 1774, laid out 2,500 acres for garrison lots in the 
neighborhood of the town, having in view the possibility that 
when the country was better settled this considerable area 
might be acquired for the support of an academy or public 
school.-^^ 

In consequence of the political changes of 1784 the policy 
of withholding free land titles from tenants in Cape Breton 
ivas considerably modified. Governor Desbarres, first Gover- 
nor of Cape Breton, was authorized to extend to the incoming 
Loyalists land concessions similar to those enjoyed by their 
compatriots in the peninsula.^*^^ Sydney having been selected 
as the seat of government, the importance of Louisbourg 
thenceforth declined. 

On account of lack of harmony between the administrators 
of government and the people and internal disagreement be- 
tween the officials themselves, the establishment for a decade 
or more maintained but a precarious existence. The sur- 
veyor-general stated, in 1787, that ''the settlement at Sydney is 
so little advanced that both civil and militia are living in the 
woods."^<^« 

Notwithstanding those adverse conditions, already in the 
previous summer Sydney's first schoolmaster, Mr, Edward 
Pate, was conducting a private school in the village for the 
benefit of children generally. For this information the writer 
is indebted to Mr. J, G. MacKinnon's volume, ''Old Sydney."^°^ 
Mr. Pate's school being private, no mention of it is made in 
the state documents. We do not know what success he had 
or how long he continued to give this service. But in the 
state papers of Cape Breton for 1790, mention is made of a 



^^'Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 222, Doc. 47. 

'"''Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 269. 

^'"Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 222, Doc. 47. 

'""Ibid., Vol. 315, Doc. 4. 

">"Ibid., Vol. 332, Doc. 7. 

""MacKinnon, J. G., Old Sydney, Sydney, Nova Scotia, 1918, p. 77. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 109 

certain Hiram Payne being ''still teaching'' in Sydney, recom- 
mendation being made for his induction as an S. P. G. 
teacher with the usual compensation of such an appointee.^^^ 
With an increasing population the services of such an official 
seem to have been very necessary at this time. According to 
a census taken there were in that j^ear in the town and county 
of Sydney, 242 men, 119 women; 106 male children under 
fourteen years of age and 32 over that age; 94 female children 
under ten years old and 31 above that age.^'^^ No appoint- 
ment, however, was made by the Society, for in a despatch by 
the government of Cape Breton to the Board of Trade in 1794 
we are informed that "the want of the teaching of religion of 
any kind and of schools hinders the growth of the island, nor 
is there," it states, "any medical or surgical attendance.'""* 

The unsatisfactory condition of education in Cape Breton 
about this time is fully set forth in a memorandum prepared 
and laid before the Council meeting on June 15, 1795, by the 
secretary, the Honorable William McKinnon. In registering 
the names of those who expected to leave the colony "it had 
fallen within his observation," he says, "that the want of a 
School has evidently interrupted the industry and retarded 
the prosperity of the Infant Settlement, as he can quote a 
number of valuable Settlers who have sacrificed considerable 
improvements and quit the Government for the express pur- 
pose of procuring education for their offspring, and others 
who from the same motives recently advertised and are now 
on the Eve of Embarkation, he is aware that unless effectual 
steps are early taken to procure a creditable and respectable 
person of Abilities to instruct the promising youths that are 
still left on the Island very serious loss will derive to the 
settlement by the departure of men and boys in the course of 
another year. He had examined the records and found no 
trace of an application or representation having been made 
to Government or the Lord Bishop of London on this interest- 
ing subject. He had lately been given to understand by the 
Reverend Ranna Cossitt, Parochial Minister of this Island, 



'"""State Papers on Cape Breton, Reports on the Canadian Archives, 
1895, p. 31. 
'""Ibid. 
">*Ibid., p. 54. 



110 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

that the Society for the Propagating the Gospel had never ex- 
ceeded Twenty pounds per Annum as an allowance for a 
schoolmaster."^**^ The Council having approved of the re- 
port, the President was asked ''to represent the lamentable 
situation of the Island in this respect to his Majesty's Minis- 
ters in hopes that an effectual remedy will be applied."^''^ 

On receipt of this appeal the Society expressed its intention 
to extend to the establishment in Cape Breton educational 
advantages similar to those it provided for other colonial 
settlements. It was prepared to grant immediately from ten 
to fifteen pounds for the support of a schoolmaster as soon as 
a suitable one could be procured. Secretary Portland, who 
transmitted this decision to the administrators in Cape Bre- 
ton, further stated that he would make representations to 
the Board of Trade that an allowance of forty pounds per 
year be henceforth included in the estimates for Cape Breton 
to go towards paying the salary of a schoolmaster. 

As the Council was not aware of the presence in the island 
of a person qualified and willing to accept the post of teacher, 
it was proposed to make application to some of the neighbor- 
ing governments for one. At the next meeting of the Coun- 
cil, in March, a proposal was made by the Eeverend Kanna 
Cossit that his relative, Mr. Brenton, barrack master, be 
given the appointment. Mr. Brenton's nomination, however, 
was not acceded to by the Board. The following June choice 
was made of Mr, Fox, then teaching in Cornwallis, Kings 
County. This gentleman being unexpectedly detained, Tim- 
othy Hogan, late of Newfoundland, was put in charge of the 
school. In September, word was received by the Council that 
the forty pounds annual grant had been made and that Mr. 
Hogan would be paid from the time of his inception. ^'^^ 

Mr. Hogan seems to have been retained as official school- 
master for a considerable period. Fox came to Sydney and 
taught for a short time in 1798 but voluntarily relinquished 
the school and left the island permanently in 1799.'"'^ At this 
juncture Kanna Cossit, junior, applied for the position, but 



"Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 320. 

"Ibid. 

"Ibid., Vols. 315, 320. 

"Ibid.. Vol. 321. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 111 

though the Council unanimously recommended him "as a fit 
and proper person," it would appear from a communication 
addressed by Mr, Hogan to that body in 1805 that the latter 
was permitted to enjoy uninterrupted control of the school 
from the time of his induction in the service. The teacher 
took occasion at this time to protest the action of the Society 
in withholding his grant for two previous years when it was 
found he was a Roman Catholic. Considering the fact that 
he had been public schoolmaster for several years, during 
which period he had taught many poor children free and had 
taken the oath of allegiance, the Council decided to x)ay him 
all arrears in salary.^^^ 

The number of children of school age in Sydney was greatly 
augmented in 1802 by the arrival of a numerous band of 
Scotch immigrants. It was stated in the Council meeting in 
that year that there were, among the new arrivals, 95 children 
above twelve years of age and 100 under that age. To secure 
accommodation for those it was necessary, in 1804, to erect 
an addition to the school-building and to provide it with a 
chimney. Thereafter, the Sydney school continued its ses- 
sions uninterruptedly, being in receipt each year of forty 
pounds from the Board of Trade."'' 

Reverend Mr. Twining, who had in the meantime been ap- 
pointed S. P. G. missionary in succession to Mr. Cossit, was 
made superintendent of the school in 1806, receiving a salary 
of about sixty pounds a year for performing this service. The 
schoolmaster then was a Mr, Storey. In 1809, the location of 
the school was changed and Mr. Hill became its master.^^^ 
Two years later, in 1811, an agitation to establish a public 
school in the town originated with the Commissioners of 
Provincial Revenue. Governor Nepean was asked to make an 
appropriation of four hundred pounds to provide for its erec- 
tion. The matter was deliberated but no action was taken for 
several years.^^^ 

In other parts of Cape Breton nothing of significant char- 
acter in the way of school establishment was done before 1811. 



309 Ibid. 

3X0 Ibid., Vol. 321, p. 182; Vol. 326, Doc. 190. 

311 Ibid. 

si2ibid., Vol. 327, Doc. 67. 



112 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

In 1786, the inhabitants of the considerable French settle- 
ment at Arichat were granted liberty by Governor Desbarres 
to erect a schoolhouse for the instruction of their children ;^^^ 
and about 1808, a tract of land for school purposes was re- 
served by the surveyor-general near Port Hood.^^^ 

For many years after annexation to Nova Scotia educa- 
tional facilities in Cape Breton continued to be scanty. 
Thomas Haliburton, writing in 1829, said there were no 
schools in the island worthy of the name; and Bourinot, in 
his history of Cape Breton, states that little improvement in 
the educational situation of the island was achieved before the 
enactment of the school law of 1865.^^^ 

CONCLUSION 

As was stated in the introduction, the purpose of this vol- 
ume is to trace educational progress in Nova Scotia from its 
earliest history to 1811. So much of interest, however, is at- 
tached to the history of school development in the province 
since that time that it seems desirable, in conclusion, to make 
a few observations on the more striking features developed 
in our educational program since that date. This part of the 
work being but summary, attention will be confined here to 
legislative enactments that had to do with the management 
and direction of our schools. 

Two measures passed by the Nova Scotia Legislature in the 
year 1811 ushered in an era of educational outlook and pur- 
pose essentially different from that which preceded it. The 
first of these enactments, relating to general education, pro- 
vided means for the institution of free public schools and in- 
troduced, for the first time, the principle of common school 
support by the method of equitable district assessment. Free- 
holders and persons enjoying an income of forty shillings or 
more per year in settlements and townships of thirty or more 
families were thereby empowered to raise, by subscription or 
assessment, not more than two hundred pounds for the estab- 



313 Reports on the Canadian Archives, 1905, Vol. 2, p. 246. 

31 i Public Records of Nova Scotia, Vol. 321. 

315 Haliburton, Thomas C, op. cit., Vol. 2, p. 249; Bourinot, J. G., 
Historical and Descriptive Account of Cape Breton. Montreal, 1892, 
p. 87. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 11. '1 

lishment and support of a school. To administer the affairs 
of the institution, the inhabitants were further authorized to 
nominate six trustees, three of whom to be subsequently 
chosen for office by the Court of General Sessions of the Peace 
for the county. The trustees engaged the teachers and ar- 
ranged for their salary. Every school established under the 
authority of the act was voted an annual subsidy of twenty- 
live pounds from the Provincial Treasury. If organization 
were secured by voluntary agreement, instruction in the 
school was confined to the children of those contributing to 
its support ; if by assessment, its classes were open to all chil- 
dren free of tuitional charge."" 

By the Grammar School Act of the same year, which had 
reference to secondary education, every county in the province 
was made a grant of one hundred and fifty pounds to help 
procure and support a grammar school, the required balance 
to be raised among the inhabitants as was the fund for the 
common school. Tuition fees were to be charged, but pro- 
vision was made for the free attendance of poor boys of the 
district to the number of eight. By incorporating in the act 
more detailed clauses, these grammar schools, the prototype 
of our present day academies, were brought more immediately 
under government supervision than the elementary institu- 

tions.^^^ 

Another forward step in school legislation, marking a dis- 
tinct advance on the provisions laid down in the law of 1811, 
was taken in 1826. Whereas the law of 1811 had extended 
certain privileges and offered encouragements to school estab- 
lishments, the act of 1826 rendered compulsory the organiza- 
tion of schools in all districts of thirty families or more. A 
new official, the school commissioner, now appeared, whose 
principal duties were to delimit school districts and examine 
and license teachers. As the regulations of 1811 had failed 
to make provision for meeting the educational requirements 
of districts containing less than thirty families, an attempt 
was now made to correct this oversight by the insertion of a 
clause providing for the incorporation of such areas into the 



316 Laws and Statutes of Nova Scotia, 1811, c. 8. 

317 lUd., 1811, c. 9. 



114 Education in Nova Scotia Bkforb 1811 

nearest district having regular school, school in such cases 
to be kei)t alternately in each district. The government grant 
for distribution among the several districts and counties of 
the province was also increased to two thousand five hundred 
pounds, each division being awarded a fixed amount. A 
notable feature of this law was the establishment of a mini- 
mum salary for teachers of fifty pounds per year."® 

The first move towards centralization came six years later 
with the Act for the Encouragement of Schools, passed in 
1832. School commissioners were then required to report to 
the Secretary of the province. This feature of the Secretary's 
duty later developed into the Council of Public Instruction. 
By removing some of the benefits secured by observance of 
the assessment method of support, the law showed a recessive 
tendency in favor of schools organized on the voluntary basis. 
The Treasury grant, however, was raised to four thousand 
pounds and extra financial assistance provided for poor sec- 
tions. In districts where grammar schools did not exist op- 
portunity and encouragement were given common schools to 
expand their functions by incorporating into their course of 
study subjects appertaining to the curriculum of fully estab- 
lished grammar schools.^^^ 

The awakening of a renewed interest in the conduct of 
schools on the assessment plan was indicated by Governor 
Falkland's address at the opening of parliament in 1841 in 
which he advocated the foundation of a school system for the 
province based on the principle of general assessment. ^^^ The 
Assembly, though it did not adopt the suggestion, made sev- 
eral amendments to the existing law and introduced some in- 
novations. It added two thousand pounds to the grant of 
1832; placed restrictions on the number of school-teachers in 
each district ; encouraged assessment and, to render the school 
law more efifective and uniform, created the office of General 
Board of Education. An important amendment stipulated 
that any school wherein the ordinary instruction were given 



3i8JMrf.. 1826, c. 5. 

319 Ibid., 1832, c. 2. 

320 Campbell, Duncan, Nova Scotia in Its Historical, Mercantile and 
Industrial Relations, Montreal, 1873, p. 348. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 115 

in French, in Gaelic or in German would be eligible for due 
participation in the public money.^^^ 

As to the condition of the schools of Nova Scotia during 
those years, a census revealed that in 1835 there were 530 
schools in the province with an enrollment of 15,000 pupila 
towards the support of which the people contributed twelve 
thousand four hundred pounds.^-- In 1847, the number of 
scholars had increased to thirty-four thousand seven hundred 
and forty-six, and the people were raising in school funds 
nearly twenty-three thousand pounds.^^^ 

With the appointment of a superintendent of education in 
1850, professional vision was brought to bear on the educa- 
tional activities of the province. Under his expert direction, 
the school system of Nova Scotia soon began to show many of 
the characteristics common to it today. With the creation of 
the superintendent's office, money was for the first time voted 
for school libraries and six hundred pounds authorized to be 
spent each year for books and maps for poor sections. The 
ratepayers were also permitted henceforth to elect their own 
trustees.^^* Four years later, in 1854, a normal school for the 
training of teachers came into existence.^^^ The establish- 
ment of this institution was a significant event in the educa- 
tional history of the province. Teaching was now organized 
as a professional calling, uniformity of qualification and im- 
proved methods of instruction promoted, and the general 
standard of education throughout the province elevated. 

The most important piece of school legislation the province 
has known had still, however, to be enacted. Despite the 
many changes eftected, the educational situation of the 
province in 1861 was very unsatisfactory. The census for 
that year showed that, out of a total population for Nova 
Scotia of three hundred thousand over five years of age, 
eighty-one thousand could not read. "Of the eighty-three 
thousand children between the ages of five and fifteen there 
were thirty-six thousand who could not read. The number 
of children attending school in 1863 was only thirty-one thou- 



»2x Laws and Statutes of Nova Scotia, 1841, c. 43. 
'"Campell, Duncan, op. cit., pp. 306-307. 

323 Ibid., p. 367. 

324 Laws and Statutes of Nova Scotia, 1850, c. 39. 

325 Jbi(f., 1854, c. 5. 



IIG Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

sand, so that there was in the Province in that year fifty-two 
thousand children growing up without any educational train- 
ing whatever."^^® As a remedy for the situation some sug- 
gested the adoption of a policy of district taxation and the 
entire abolishment of voluntarism ; others were opposed to it. 
The question was vigorously debated and became a party is- 
sue. Taking a middle coui'se, the party in power in the 
House in 1S(M passed legislation declaring the common schools 
of the province free to all children residing in the section and 
emphasizing the idea of general assessment. Provision was 
also made for the appointment of a Council of Public In- 
struction.^-^ 

These measures were but preliminary to the final step in the 
process, which was taken the following j^ear. Amidst a great 
deal of popular excitement and powerful opposition in the 
House the proponents of the assessment principle, in 18G5, se- 
cured the successful passage of a measure making compulsory 
the support of schools by the method of general assessment. 
Secondary education was also assumed completely as a func- 
tion of government; the office of inspectorship was created 
and an extensive code of regulations for the administration 
of schools adopted.^^^ 

The history of education in Nova Scotia since 1865 shows a 
steady advance in efficiency of our institutions of learning. 
With a system of free schools organized on the safe principle 
of support by universal assessment, it still remained neces- 
sary to provide such legislative machinery as would insure 
attendance at those institutions. This was secured by legisla- 
tion passed in the year 1888 which was modified and perfected 
by amendments made in 1895 and 1915.^^^ Other legislation 
passed since 1865 has been more after the nature of develop- 
ments of ideas embodied in existing school law than out and 
out innovations. 

In the realm of higher education, though Nova Scotia 
boasts no provincial university as such, a number of denomi- 
national colleges provide an efficient training for its youth of 



326 Campbell, Duncan, op. cit., p. 427. 

327 Laws and Statutes of Nova Scotia, 1864, May 10. 
S28ibid., 1865, c. 29. 

'"■'Ibid., 1888, 1895, 1915, caps. 46, 1 and 48, 4, respectively. 



Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 117 

varying religious persuasion. In addition to King's, Pictou 
and Dalhousie, Acadia College, Baptist, was erected in 1838; 
St. Mary's, Catholic, in 1841; Gorham, Congregational, now 
defunct, in 1848; St. Francis Xavier's, Catholic, in 1853; and 
Ste. Anne's, Catholic, in 1890. In 1876 a state university 
was incorporated under the name "University of Halifax," 
but it was discontinued within a few years. However, Dal- 
housie University in the non-denominational character of its 
courses and administration may be justly regarded as a state 
institution. Its classes are open to all students irrespective 
of religious creed. The same thing, indeed, may now be af- 
firmed of all the other educational institutions of the prov- 
ince. 

On the whole the quality of education provided by the edu- 
cational institutions of Nova Scotia compares favorably with 
that obtainable in any of the provinces of the Dominion. 
Considering the nature of the difficulties that hindered edu- 
cational progress in early days and the comparatively youth- 
ful age of our organized school system as compared with 
those of most countries of the world, the present status of our 
schools reflects credit upon those who directed the course of 
our educational activities to their present satisfactory condi- 
tion. While in Nova Scotia, as in all modern states, certain 
aspects of school life suggest room for the introduction of new 
methods and experiments in keeping with ever growing de- 
mands made on schools incidental to kaleidoscopic social and 
industrial evolutions, these are being introduced as occasion 
demands. The system while wisely conservative possesses 
elasticity sufficient to permit the free expressiouj of individual- 
ity and the introduction of new ideas and processes as the 
need for their application becomes apparent. ^^" 



"""For a more complete account of school development in Nova Scotia 
from 1811 to the present day, see the volume, "Public Education In 
Nova Scotia," by James Bingay, M. A., Supervisor of Schools, Glace 
Bay, Nova Scotia, published by the Jackson Press, Kingston, 1919. 



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Genuine Letters and Memoirs relating to the Natural, Civil and Com- 
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Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 119 

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120 Education in Nova Scotia Before 1811 

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VITA 

Patrick Wilfrid Thibeau was born at Tliibeauville, Nova 
Scotia, in the year 1892. He received his primary education 
in the public school of Cannes section; his scholastic training 
in the academies at St. Peter's and Guysborough, Nova Scotia. 
He entered the Arts Course at the University of Saint Francis 
Xavier's College, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, in 1913, graduating 
in 1917 with the degree, B.A. The same year, as a Knights 
of Columbus Scholar, he entered upon graduate studies at the 
Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C, receiving 
the M.A. degree from that institution in 1918. 



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